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Sancho

(9,196 posts)
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 08:16 AM 10 hrs ago

Too Late to Apologize! James Webb Telescope New study just made the "crisis in cosmology" WORSE...



For years, astronomers debated the so-called “cosmology crisis,” especially the tension in how fast the universe is expanding. Now, Webb’s deep-field observations are adding fuel to the fire.
Instead of tidy, predictable early galaxies, Webb is revealing massive, surprisingly mature systems forming far earlier than standard models allow. These findings don’t just tweak the timeline—they pressure the very framework of dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic evolution. If galaxies grew this big this fast, then something fundamental is missing from the equations.

The crisis in cosmology isn’t about one anomaly. It’s about pattern after pattern refusing to fit. The expansion rate disagrees depending on how you measure it. Early structures look too advanced. Simulations struggle to keep up with observation. The universe isn’t behaving the way the textbooks promised. So what happens next? Do physicists patch the model—or rethink it entirely? The answers unfolding now could redefine the story of space, time, and everything in between.
40 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Too Late to Apologize! James Webb Telescope New study just made the "crisis in cosmology" WORSE... (Original Post) Sancho 10 hrs ago OP
That's how science works... QueerDuck 9 hrs ago #1
Well said. niyad 9 hrs ago #3
Exactly, "...the way the textbooks promised" sounds like something a pseudo-scientist would say William Seger 8 hrs ago #7
KNR niyad 9 hrs ago #2
Be a heck of a thing if the Continuous Universe thing came back. Girard442 9 hrs ago #4
The eternal universe model never left. AZ8theist 7 hrs ago #16
Not happening... VMA131Marine 7 hrs ago #29
I read Fred Hoyle early on. usonian 6 hrs ago #30
His novel, "The Black Cloud" was quite entertaining. Girard442 5 hrs ago #31
DA FUCK? A crisis like this and there ain't nobody doin' nuthin' 'bout it? 3Hotdogs 8 hrs ago #5
Everyone is distracted by the Epstein Files...🤪 MiHale 8 hrs ago #6
And the answer isn't even in the Trumpstein Files at all! Layzeebeaver 7 hrs ago #26
Celebrate the evolution of cosmological crisis management. Marcuse 8 hrs ago #8
He was right. Historic NY 8 hrs ago #11
Not really a crisis edhopper 8 hrs ago #9
Yeah, but putting the word "crisis" in the headline makes for more clicks... Wounded Bear 7 hrs ago #15
Cosmologists are obviously just "Crisis Actors" Layzeebeaver 7 hrs ago #27
LOL... Wounded Bear 7 hrs ago #28
For goodness sake, just ask AI StarryNite 8 hrs ago #10
Who'd have thought the universe is infinite and timeless Clouds Passing 8 hrs ago #12
Me!!! LymphocyteLover 7 hrs ago #14
Infinite time and space is hard to comprehend. multigraincracker 7 hrs ago #21
. . . John1956PA 7 hrs ago #25
very cool! But does anyone know what that little cartoon image is, in the middle of the cover picture? It looks like a LymphocyteLover 7 hrs ago #13
That's the James Webb Telescope (JWT)... Wounded Bear 7 hrs ago #18
That's the James Webb Space Telescope. AZ8theist 7 hrs ago #19
Thanks! I had no idea that's what it looked like LymphocyteLover 2 hrs ago #37
We haven't been around very long in terms of what we see as the age of the Cosmos. patphil 7 hrs ago #17
We are in a race between discovery and self-annihilation. LuvLoogie 7 hrs ago #20
As Albert Einstein famously said... Pluvious 4 hrs ago #33
it has to! LymphocyteLover 2 hrs ago #38
Compared to the Universe (13.8 billion years): Humans have been present for roughly 0.002%... Ol Janx Spirit 7 hrs ago #22
To paraphrase John Prine: Bo Zarts 7 hrs ago #23
You have to appreciate real science Farmer-Rick 7 hrs ago #24
The science fiction writers were right. usonian 5 hrs ago #32
Another astute observation... Pluvious 4 hrs ago #34
He regretted one thing. usonian 3 hrs ago #35
Whoa... Pluvious 2 hrs ago #36
Being interested in science from practically day one, I knew about this all along. usonian 1 hr ago #40
'They're LYING TO YOU !' NeoTrajan 2 hrs ago #39

QueerDuck

(1,349 posts)
1. That's how science works...
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 08:45 AM
9 hrs ago

It’s only a "crisis" for the people who wrote the current textbooks... for everyone else, it’s a wide-open door to a Nobel Prize.

Personally, I think that this is the most exciting time to be in the field since the discovery of Dark Energy in the late 90s. As The European Space Agency points out, "crisis" in science is often the precursor to a paradigm shift.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out and what we learn in the process.

🎶 The more we know! 💫🌠

William Seger

(12,349 posts)
7. Exactly, "...the way the textbooks promised" sounds like something a pseudo-scientist would say
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 09:50 AM
8 hrs ago

They have a special way of treating "mainstream" science (i.e. real science) as if it's a competing religion taught by false prophets, rather than just the most logical, but ever evolving, explanation we currently have for the credible facts, as best we know them.

Girard442

(6,855 posts)
4. Be a heck of a thing if the Continuous Universe thing came back.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 09:11 AM
9 hrs ago

Don't listen to me. I know nothing.

AZ8theist

(7,202 posts)
16. The eternal universe model never left.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:30 AM
7 hrs ago

It's just another hypothesis to explain the univese's existance.

VMA131Marine

(5,229 posts)
29. Not happening...
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 11:17 AM
7 hrs ago

The Cosmic Microwave Background is very real and is effectively the glow of the Universe from 380,000 years after the Big Bang. This is about reconciling the expansion rate of the early universe and the universe today with General Relativity.

usonian

(24,414 posts)
30. I read Fred Hoyle early on.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 11:34 AM
6 hrs ago

The universe stubbornly refuses to conform to our sophisticated models. And dark matter? Give me a break.

How about the old fashioned way?

Observation first, theory later?

Layzeebeaver

(2,237 posts)
26. And the answer isn't even in the Trumpstein Files at all!
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 11:06 AM
7 hrs ago

Now THAT'S a crisis if I've ever seen one!

edhopper

(37,239 posts)
9. Not really a crisis
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:02 AM
8 hrs ago

just the continuing refining of what we know about the Universe. The main facts remain, the Big Bang, the expanding Universe, Dark Matter. But the numbers attached will change and shift as we learn more.
That the expansion rate is different depending how we measure it is a good thing that will lead to a better understanding.

Layzeebeaver

(2,237 posts)
27. Cosmologists are obviously just "Crisis Actors"
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 11:09 AM
7 hrs ago

Oh wait, or is it the pseudo-science reporters?

multigraincracker

(37,295 posts)
21. Infinite time and space is hard to comprehend.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:44 AM
7 hrs ago

No beginning and no end to either. That means it is all happening infinite times and places. When we get to the end of this universe now, it’s happening infinite times and place. No ends and no beginnings.
For some reason our brains can not handle this. Yet there is no other answer.

John1956PA

(4,905 posts)
25. . . .
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 11:01 AM
7 hrs ago

From "In the Year 2525" (1969) by Zager and Evans:

"Now it's been ten thousand years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man's reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it's only yesterday
In the year 2525 . . ."

LymphocyteLover

(9,666 posts)
13. very cool! But does anyone know what that little cartoon image is, in the middle of the cover picture? It looks like a
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:24 AM
7 hrs ago

distorted grand piano with a weird rock going through it.

patphil

(8,901 posts)
17. We haven't been around very long in terms of what we see as the age of the Cosmos.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:32 AM
7 hrs ago

We're essentially still children, making guesses at how things work at the Cosmic level. This "crisis" is just the next level of discovery. I expect it will happen even more frequently as we improve our technology, with no end in sight.

LuvLoogie

(8,707 posts)
20. We are in a race between discovery and self-annihilation.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:42 AM
7 hrs ago

Does our sense of community outlast our violent greed?

Pluvious

(5,347 posts)
33. As Albert Einstein famously said...
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 01:29 PM
4 hrs ago

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity"
-Albert Einstein

Ol Janx Spirit

(898 posts)
22. Compared to the Universe (13.8 billion years): Humans have been present for roughly 0.002%...
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:50 AM
7 hrs ago

...of the time since the Big Bang.
https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/what-was-it-like-when-humans-first-arose-on-planet-earth-c8e2f108278d

If the entire history of the universe were compressed into a 24-hour day, human existence would occupy only the last few seconds before midnight.

Further, humans have only known about the Big Bang and Dark Matter for roughly 0.03% to 0.05% of our own existence.

The expectation that we would really come to terms with the actual universe through observations--keeping in mind that our observations comprise the same tiny sliver of the universe's existence as our own--and working out mathematical formulas is the real crisis.

It is the equivalent of a baby born one second ago thinking that it already knows where its mother came from.

Farmer-Rick

(12,572 posts)
24. You have to appreciate real science
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 10:56 AM
7 hrs ago

It's always correcting itself. Change and discovery are built into the model. Can't wait to see how these unexpected observations will change how we see the universe. I'm on the edge of my seat.

usonian

(24,414 posts)
32. The science fiction writers were right.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 12:54 PM
5 hrs ago

A civilization, and I use the term loosely, survives by growing wiser, not necessarily smarter.

We use scientific discoveries first to kill each other faster.

Get along or go away. Poof!

If you can stomach it, read how "genius" Edison proved the superiority of DC over AC. Make sure you're strapped into your chair first.

Until people adopt higher principles 🪷, kiss this planet good bye.

I am ready with my towel.

Pluvious

(5,347 posts)
34. Another astute observation...
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 01:35 PM
4 hrs ago

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity"
-Albert Einstein

And that was his assessment MANY years ago !
Imagine what he would think today...

usonian

(24,414 posts)
35. He regretted one thing.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 03:03 PM
3 hrs ago
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240801-it-was-the-one-great-mistake-in-my-life-the-letter-from-einstein-that-ushered-in-the-age-of-the-atomic-bomb

On 2 August 1939, Albert Einstein wrote to the US President Franklin D Roosevelt. His letter would result in the Manhattan Project, and one of history's most significant – and destructive – inventions.

The dramatic account of the lethal harnessing of atomic power told in the 2023 blockbuster film Oppenheimer might have been nothing more than science fiction had a two-page letter, dated 2 August 1939, never been written.

"Recent work in nuclear physics made it probable that uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy," reads a typed letter to US President Franklin D Roosevelt signed by hand by the esteemed physicist Albert Einstein. (and Leo Szilard) This energy, he continues, could be used "for the construction of extremely powerful bombs".


And look who has become Shiva, destroyer of worlds, now.

Pluvious

(5,347 posts)
36. Whoa...
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 03:55 PM
2 hrs ago

Thank you for digging that up and sharing it

I had never seen that before before and did not know about it, I just knew he had something to do with the invention

I can see that this would likely have haunted him in his later years

usonian

(24,414 posts)
40. Being interested in science from practically day one, I knew about this all along.
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 04:28 PM
1 hr ago

Several lessons have stuck with me.

1. People always say "Well, if we don't do it, "They" will."

2. The beneficial uses of technology and the harmful ones are CHOICES.

3. People choose poorly.

4. Technology is mostly directed by sociopaths.

5. I always wanted to use tech to make life better, but

6. All the great ideas I had ended up trying to undo what those sociopaths (4) did to us with their greed and perversion.

7. There was discussion about using the bomb on military or empty targets. Civilian targets were chosen, though arguably incendiary bombs used on ticky-tacky Japanese homes killed more people.

I know a guy who was an infant at the Hiroshima bombing. He is still alive and a living Buddha among men.

8. Eleanor Roosevelt was opposed to the internment of Japanese-Americans. Hubby chose poorly.

I just heard a local radio show honoring veterans, in which a man interned as a child later fought for the U.S. Army and described the horrors of the war. (recorded earlier)

9. War is hell. It's not fun and games.

10. Shitler must go before he destroys everything.

NeoTrajan

(54 posts)
39. 'They're LYING TO YOU !'
Tue Feb 24, 2026, 04:17 PM
2 hrs ago

'Science is in a panic!'

'Cosmology is in total collapse!'

'Astronomers are spiraling!!!'

For some reason, this reminds me of the new YouTube culture

And just one reason to dislike YouTube

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