Giant Galaxies from the Universe's Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Stories

Trouble viewing? View in your browser. View all Scientific American publications.

    

January 27, 2021

Dear Reader, Most large elliptical galaxies take many billions of years to reach their massive sizes. But, for reasons unknown, some of these giants manage to bulk up much earlier in cosmic history. Read today's lead story to learn more. Next, nearly a half-million people died over the past two decades from conditions associated with climate disasters, according to new findings. Puerto Rico suffered the greatest impacts during that time period. And lastly, hospitals are working hard to expand their facilities and draw in extra staff during the pandemic. But they are also beginning to consider plans for other ways to cope, including some forms of rationing care, if the flood tide of COVID patients continues to rise.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Space Giant Galaxies from the Universe's Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Stories Large galaxies are thought to form gradually, across billions of years of cosmic time. So why do astronomers keep finding them in the youthful early universe? By Robin George Andrews

Computing What the Capitol Riot Data Download Shows about Social Media Vulnerabilities A massive amount of information downloaded from Parler includes potentially incriminating material. But innocuous posts on mainstream platforms can also create vulnerabilities By Sophie Bushwick

Public Health COVID-Overwhelmed Hospitals Strain Staff and Hope to Avoid Rationing Care There are times when critically ill patients must wait for beds, and some facilities have contingency plans to limit scarce supplies to certain patients By Katherine Harmon Courage

Biology How Evolution Helps Us Understand Cancer and Control It Cells need to cooperate to coexist in people, and when some break the rules, cancer results By Athena Aktipis

Natural Disasters Climate-Fueled Disasters Killed 475,000 People over 20 Years Puerto Rico was identified as suffering the greatest climate impacts over that time period By Daniel Cusick,E&E News

Public Health COVID Vaccine Rollout Pits Fairness against Speed Emergency physician Leana Wen says we must balance prioritizing those who most "deserve" a vaccine with getting people vaccinated quickly By Marla Broadfoot

Policy & Ethics 'Inspired Choice': Biden Appoints Sociologist Alondra Nelson to Top Science Post Scientists praise US president's selection of the bioethics and social inequality specialist to help lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy By Nidhi Subbaraman,Nature magazine

FROM THE STORE Seeking the Multiverse Instead of "what if the South won the Civil War?" cosmologists ask, "what if the constants that make up the fundamental building blocks of physics were different?" Physicists argue that any slight change to the laws of physics would mean a disruption in the evolution of the universe, and thus our existence. With the many factors that had to align for us to exist, it can seem like the laws of physics might seem finely tuned to make our existence possible. Instead of a supernatural or divine explanation, this eBook explores the possibility is that our universe isn't the only one.

ADVERTISEMENT

FROM THE ARCHIVE Astronomers Get Earliest Ever Glimpse of Ancient Giant Galaxy The disk of gas and stars resembles our own Milky Way but somehow formed when the universe was only about 10 percent of its current age By Nola Taylor Redd | May 2020

QUOTE OF THE DAY "There's so much uncertainty that goes into galaxy formation." Coral Wheeler, astronomer at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

LATEST ISSUES

Questions?   Comments?

Download the Scientific American App

To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe     Manage Email Preferences     Privacy Policy     Contact Us