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Science 5 January 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5808, pp. 59 - 61
DOI: 10.1126/science.1136276
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Perspective

Quarks and the Cosmos

Michael S. Turner

Cosmology is in the midst of a period of revolutionary discovery, propelled by bold ideas from particle physics and by technological advances from gigapixel charge-coupled device cameras to peta-scale computing. The basic features of the universe have now been determined: It is 13.7 billion years old, spatially flat, and expanding at an accelerating rate; it is composed of atoms (4%), exotic dark matter (20%), and dark energy (76%); and there is evidence that galaxies and other structures were seeded by quantum fluctuations. Although we know much about the universe, we understand far less. Poised to dramatically advance our understanding of both the universe and the laws that govern it, cosmology is on the verge of a golden age.

Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637–1433, USA.

E-mail: mturner{at}uchicago.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Particle Dark Matter in the Universe: At the Brink of Discovery?.
B. Sadoulet (2007)
Science 315, 61-63
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)