New Scientist - The Essential Guides

The Essential Guide series brings together the best recent coverage from New Scientist specially curated into beautiful compendiums about the most exciting themes in science and technology today. Written and edited by some of the world’s best science writers, these guides will leave you with everything you need to know about subjects from nutrition to the solar system and more.

NEW SCIENTIST ESSENTIAL GUIDE • OUR INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE

New Scientist - The Essential Guides

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE

WHAT IS SPACE-TIME? • To grasp the basics, we must first understand the strange stuff the universe is made of. Cosmologist Sean Carroll introduces Albert Einstein’s greatest insight: space-time.

THE GRANDEST TOUR • From exoplanets through to supermassive black holes and the great cosmic web, the contents of the universe combine to form a marvellous menagerie.

YOU ARE HERE • This map shows the circle of the cosmos that surrounds us, extending to a distance of 200 million light years. At this scale, space is comprised of clusters of galaxies and voids, the latter being areas with relatively few galaxies. The Milky Way, at the centre, is part of the Local Group of galaxies, with the Virgo cluster our nearest neighbour.

A COSMIC SPECTACULAR • Having seen a snapshot of the universe at scales all the way up to its biggest structures, it’s now time for a dynamic view. Events beyond Earth’s skies offer a magnificent show – if you know where and how to look. Let astronomer María Arias be your guide.

HOW BIG IS THE UNIVERSE? • We may never know what lies beyond the boundaries of the observable universe, but the fabric of the cosmos can tell us whether the universe is infinite or not.

THE FIRST SECOND

WIND BACK THE CLOCK • Over the past century, we’ve developed a good handle on the story behind the universe’s birth – though there is still plenty left to discover, as cosmologist Dan Hooper explores in this journey into our cosmic past.

THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION • It has been called the afterglow of creation, the echo of the big bang and the oldest light in the universe. It’s all around us, and it is crucial to astronomy and cosmology. But what is the CMB?

QUANTUM EXPLOSION • Cosmological observations of the cosmic microwave background have given us reason to believe in something extraordinary – a super-rapid expansion of space and time just after the big bang. But questions about this epoch of “inflation” remain. Can quantum theory give us the answers we seek?

BEYOND FIRST LIGHT • Want to know more about the earliest moments of the universe? Elusive, ghostly particles called neutrinos might shed light on the matter, says physicist Martin Bauer.

THE DARK SIDE

MYSTERIOUS GRAVITATIONAL GLUE • In pursuit of dark matter, researchers are doing everything from burying vats of xenon deep underground to sending a balloon floating above the Antarctic. When will their creativity pay off?

THE AXION OPTION • Hypothetical particles called axions could explain dark matter, and more besides. Though the idea has been around a while, it’s enjoying a resurgence.

WHAT IS DARK ENERGY? • A mysterious energy source is causing the universe’s expansion to accelerate. We know almost nothing about this “dark energy”, which makes up around 70 per cent of the universe’s energy. However, we have very good reason to believe it is real, as cosmologist Pedro Ferreira explains.

GOING DEEPER • Nobel prizewinner Jim Peebles introduced dark matter and dark energy into our standard model of the cosmos – but that is only an approximation of a deeper truth, he says. Here he explains how we can head towards a final theory of physics.

THE SEEDS OF REVOLUTION

SEEING FURTHER WITH JWST • The most powerful space telescope...