A00290 - Magazine of the Month for the Month of July 2024: Scientific American: Special Edition: Dark Universe

 Growing up in the High Desert town of Victorville, California, one of the truly spectacular sights occurs almost every night when the stars begin to emerge and shine.  In the High Desert in the 1960s and early 1970s, the town of Victorville only had 15,000 people and the light pollution was minor.  So, for many Summer nights, an African American boy could go outside, look up, and dream about worlds where life would be better.

Fast forward sixty years or so, and that African American boy is now 70 years old.  He still has a fascination with stars, but he marvels at the notion that all he can see -- that all anyone can see -- is only a small portion of what must be. How can that be?

Well, while waiting in the Portland Airport after my Bucket List adventure in Eugene, Oregon, I spotted a magazine that immediately caught my attention.  The magazine was a Special Edition of Scientific American magazine, and the title of the magazine is "Dark Universe: Mysterious cosmic phenomena shape reality itself". This magazine actually tries to explain how the visible universe is really only five percent of the universe and that there is more than five times more dark matter and 14 times more dark energy in the universe than there is what we can see.

Intrigued, I purchased the magazine and began reading it.  

After reading a portion of it, I decided that I would make this magazine my first ever Magazine of the Month, and I invite all who can, to join me in learning how to measure the weight of nothing.  Fascinating stuff, it is.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins

Fairfield, California

July 9, 2024