What is dark energy? Physicist Tessa Baker at the University of Portsmouth, UK, is at the forefront of the search for elusive dark matter, using some of cosmology’s most powerful tools, including the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). By studying ripples in space-time sent out by the most extreme events in the cosmos, such as black hole mergers, experimentalists like Baker are beginning to test radical ideas: that dark energy might stem from hidden dimensions, elusive fi

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed galaxies that seem too massive, too early— discoveries that could shake the very foundations of cosmology. Theoretical astrophysicist Priya Natarajan explores whether JWST’s findings truly “blow up” our current understanding of the universe. What surprises Priya most? What new questions do these discoveries raise about dark matter, dark energy, and the Big Bang itself? Discover how JWST challenges existing cosmological models, what the early uni