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Cosmology

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science

Astronomy Biology Biotechnology Chemistry Complexity Computing and artificial intelligence Cosmology Deep time Earth science and climate Ecology and environmental sciences Engineering Evolution Genetics History of science Human evolution Human reproduction Illness and disease Mathematics Medicine Oceans and water Palaeontology Physics Quantum theory Space exploration

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Photo of an astronaut beside a large boulder on the Moon’s surface with lunar rover in the background against a dark sky.

essayPalaeontology

Life happened fast

It’s time to rethink how we study life’s origins. It emerged far earlier, and far quicker, than we once thought possible

Michael Marshall

Abstract digital art of a web-like cosmic structure with purple and orange filament patterns, resembling a universe simulation.

essayCosmology

Rivers of galaxies

What are the largest shapes in the Universe? The answer might be found in the most unassuming places here on Earth

Mark Neyrinck

Photo of deep space with a pale blue dot in the distance against a dark background, featuring faint light streaks.

essayCosmology

Just a pale blue dot

When we see the Earth as ‘a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam’ what do we learn about human significance?

Tim Bayne

A desert highway at dusk with cliffs and the moon visible and a rear-view mirror showing a road and sunset reflection behind.

essayPhysics

The stagnation of physics

Physicists today need to jettison the all-too-attractive myth that they are uncovering the hidden reality of our Universe

Adrien De Sutter

A monochrome painting of a moonlit lake scene with a mountain silhouette and figures on a pier under a crescent moon.

essayDeep time

The bookends of time

Nothing lasts forever: not humanity, not Earth, not the Universe. But finitude confers an indelible meaning to our lives

Thomas Moynihan

Photo of a dark, rugged rock formation emerging from blurred ocean waves under a cloudy sky.

essayDeep time

Roaming rocks

Metamorphic rocks are our emissaries from the deep, travelling to alien realms and revealing the restless nature of Earth

Marcia Bjornerud

Tiny planet photo of a snowy mountain under a starry sky and Milky Way galaxy with glowing horizon.

essayCosmology

Exploding the Big Bang

It was thought that science could tell us about the origins of the Universe. Today that great endeavour is in serious doubt

Daniel Linford

Photo of a galaxy with a bright centre emitting a blue jet of energy against a background of numerous stars in space.

essayCosmology

Stars behaving absurdly

For centuries, the only way in which to illuminate the mysteries of black holes was through the power of mathematics

Steve Nadis & Shing-Tung Yau

Close-up of two black optical devices with visible yellow light inside the lenses, set against a blurry background.

videoPhysics

What does it look like to hunt for dark matter? Scenes from one frontier in the search

7 minutes

Abstract black-and-white image featuring a spherical shape at the centre surrounded by an intricate web of swirling, crisscrossing lines, creating a three-dimensional effect. The background is dark, enhancing the contrast and emphasising the white lines and central sphere.

videoPhysics

Imagining spacetime as a visible grid is an extraordinary journey into the unseen

12 minutes

A woman with brown hair wearing a dark blazer and light-coloured top is speaking, gesturing with her hand. The background is out-of-focus greenery.

videoCosmology

Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse

11 minutes

Illustration of a man in a suit, looking down, with a background of indistinct figures in a hallway. The colours are muted, creating a sombre atmosphere.

videoCosmology

The Indian astronomer whose innovative work on black holes was mocked at Cambridge

13 minutes

An elongated, rocky interstellar object travelling through space with stars in the background, emitting a faint, translucent tail.

videoAstronomy

Seven years later, what can we make of our first confirmed interstellar visitor?

59 minutes

Dark, craggy surface of a moon or planet with bright geysers or plumes of light erupting into space from its horizon, against a dark background.

essayAstronomy

Panspermia

It’s possible that frozen worlds with subterranean oceans are incubators of organic life. But then how did life get here?

Balazs Bradak

A vibrant image of the Ring Nebula in narrowband, featuring a central blue core surrounded by green, yellow and red rings against a dark background.

videoSpace exploration

What are you really seeing when you see magnificent images of space?

5 minutes

Deep space showing numerous galaxies, stars, and cosmic phenomena in varying colours, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.

essaySpace exploration

Cosmic vision

By showing us a new cosmos, the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope will ripple through our moral universe

Claire Isabel Webb

A Martian landscape with a rover, rocky terrain, and distant mountains, with the foreground featuring rover equipment under a blue and yellow sky.

essayAstronomy

Thriving on Mars

Dust storms, long distances and freezing temperatures make living on Mars magnificently challenging. How will we do it?

Simon Morden

A glowing black hole with a bright accretion disc in space, surrounded by stars and a distant planet against a dark, starry background.

essayCosmology

Cogitating black holes

The Universe cannot always be understood through observation. Instead, physicists explore by devising thought experiments

Michael Dine

A collage of various objects, animals, and clothes surrounding a large brain illustration on a black background.

videoLogic and probability

Is it more likely you’re a person with a past, or an ephemeral brain in a void?

6 minutes

Blurry, reddish-orange image of a glowing ring with a dark centre, set against a black background. Resembles a black hole’s visualisation.

essayCosmology

Dark horses in the cosmos

Could primordial black holes from the beginning of time explain ‘dark matter’, the mysterious missing mass in the Universe?

Briley Lewis

Two people enjoying a picnic on a blanket with assorted food and drinks, viewed from above with a 1-metre scale overlay.

videoCosmology

Revisiting ‘Powers of Ten’ – what we’ve learned about the Universe since 1977

7 minutes

An observatory under a starry sky, with the Milky Way galaxy clearly visible above.

essayCosmology

The search for alien tech

There’s a new plan to find extraterrestrial civilisations by the way they live. But if we can see them, can they see us?

Corey S Powell

Illustration of a man with grey hair and arms crossed in front of full bookshelves.

videoCosmology

Building ‘bigger and better’ has pushed cosmology forward. Can it take it any further?

7 minutes

Image of a star-filled night sky with galaxies and stars of various sizes and colours scattered on a dark background.

essayCosmology

A non-Standard model

Most cosmologists say dark matter must exist. So far, it’s nowhere to be found. A widely scorned rival theory explains why

David Merritt