This visualization presents a 3-D view of the largest structures in the universe. It begins with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and zooms out to reveal data from WMAP.

but if we zoom out—just like we zoom out on a smartphone with two fingers—these inhomogeneities disappear. This principle forms the foundation of the theoretical model we use today to explain the ...

And Mandelbrot himself wondered if the universe is a fractal. If, as we zoom out, we will see the same kinds of structures appearing again and again. And in a way, that's what we see: a hierarchy ...

Have you ever looked at the beach and wondered how many grains of sand there are? That can be mind-boggling to think about. Scientists estimate that, depending on the grain size and density, a single ...