Do We Live in a Lopsided Universe?

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April 15, 2020

Dear Reader, X-ray surveys of galaxy clusters across the sky are revealing what may be curious anomalies in cosmic structure. Could the universe be directionless? Read our main story to find out more. From an article in our April issue, scientists found a tiny animal living under rocks in Antarctica's inland mountain peaks, where nothing should survive. Also featured in today's roundup: a new analysis suggests that bats and rodents are "unexceptional" in their tendency to host viruses that infect humans. And lastly, a group of conservative policymakers and pundits—who are not trained as climate scientists—have repurposed arguments against coronavirus modeling to attack climate projections. Important information for our print subscribers

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Space Do We Live in a Lopsided Universe? A new study of galaxy clusters suggests the cosmos may not be the same in all directions By Lee Billings

Biology Exotic Creature in Antarctica Has Survived More than 30 Ice Ages Its perseverance is rewriting the history of life, and of ice, across the continent  By Douglas Fox

Public Health Bats Are a Key Source of Human Viruses--but They May Not Be Special Statistical analyses suggest surveillance efforts for the next pandemic should look beyond the flying mammals By Clare Watson,Nature magazine

Public Health Climate Science Deniers Turn to Attacking Coronavirus Models Vocal critics have cited perceived flaws in both climate and virus modeling, despite scientific evidence to the contrary By Scott Waldman,E&E News

Space Is This Telescope-On-A-Plane Worth Its Pricetag? NASA's high-flying SOFIA observatory has struggled to prove its scientific worth By Alexandra Witze,Nature magazine

Policy & Ethics Obama Talks Some Science Policy As he endorsed Joe Biden today, former president Barack Obama touched on some environmental, economic and science matters. By Steve Mirsky | 01:38

FROM THE STORE Trailblazers: Women in Science Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space, once said that she didn't set out to be a role model, but after her first flight, she realized that she was one. Like her, the 12 women scientists in this collection became unintentional heroes through perseverance and hard work, making great discoveries in all areas of science. From Vera Rubin's examination of the internal dynamics of galaxies to Nobel Prize winner May-Britt Moser's study of the brain's GPS-like navigating system, read up on the achievements of women who became role models for us all.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE How to Debate a Science Denier A new finding shows that marshaling facts and identifying an opponent's rhetorical techniques are effective at dampening a skeptic's message By Diana Kwon | June 2019

QUOTE OF THE DAY "Pandemics have a way of cutting through a lot of noise and spin to remind us of what is real and what is important. This crisis has reminded us that...facts and science matter." Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States via Twitter

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