This cosmology course is hopefully giving you an overview of cosmology, helping you to see how ideas, models and observations about the Universe you have made or learned about fit together. I also hope you will continue to pursue cosmology on your own. This excercise will give you practice in evaluating new information from articles you read in light of what you already think and know.

Read a recent article (newspaper, magazine, internet news site, etc.) about something in cosmology.

(a) Briefly summarize the point of the article in your own words.

(b) How does the information in the article fit in with the picture of cosmology we've been developing in class? (For example, does it describe a more precise measurement of a cosmological parameter, a more detailed description of a model, an entirely new way of thinking about something, etc.? Does it compare observations or models by different groups of researchers? Does it describe a "controversy?" Do you think it's controversial? What would be controversial to you on this subject? Etc.)

(c) How does the information in the article fit in with the Universe you described in Exercise 1, "Describing Your Universe"? For example, how has the information in the article changed how you think about the Universe, if at all? Does it confirm suspicions you may have had? Did the information help clarify your beliefs about what the Universe is like? Did it confuse you? Did the information matter to you? What new information on a similar topic would matter to you? Etc.)

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last modified 3/6/02