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WEB: An Immense World

From tiny microbes to vast cosmic structures, the sheer scale of our universe is humbling

Ed Yong

Imagine shrinking yourself to the size of an atom and taking a journey through the human body. You would begin on the skin, where you would encounter bacteria and other microbes that make up your microbiome. Venturing deeper, you would pass through cells and tissues, navigating a vast labyrinth of blood vessels and nerve fibers. Each cell would be a miniature world unto itself, teeming with organelles and molecules.

If you could continue shrinking, you would eventually reach the subatomic realm, where the laws of physics become increasingly strange and counterintuitive. Here, you would encounter particles that behave like both waves and particles, and strings that vibrate at incredible speeds. The fundamental building blocks of the universe would be laid bare before you.

Now imagine expanding yourself to the size of the universe. You would begin in the Milky Way galaxy, a vast spiral of stars that contains our solar system. Outward, you would travel past neighboring galaxies, each a swirling vortex of billions of stars. You would pass through galaxy clusters, immense collections of galaxies held together by gravity, and superclusters, even larger structures that defy comprehension.

Eventually, you would reach the edge of the observable universe, where the light from distant galaxies has not yet had time to reach us. Beyond this boundary, there may be other universes, stretching out into the vast expanse of space.

The universe is an immense place, filled with wonders that we are only beginning to understand. From the smallest particles to the largest structures, the sheer scale of our cosmos is humbling. It is a reminder that we are but a small part of a much larger and more complex reality.