New observations appear to have undermined our leading theories of the universe — so claims Kansas State University computer scientist Lior Shamir, who has identified that far more spiral galaxies spin clockwise than counter-clockwise as seen from Earth. This is a near 50% asymmetry, visible to the naked eye. And it grows stronger the deeper into cosmic history we look. Under the cosmological principle, the century-old assumption that the universe looks the same from every vantage point, an observer anywhere should see a roughly even split. Shamir’s data suggests otherwise, and the implications may require a whole new cosmological theory. Furthermore, the same systematic bias that could explain the spiral galaxy asymmetry may also be inflating the measurements behind two of cosmology’s most stubborn open problems: dark energy, the unexplained force thought to be accelerating the universe’s expansion, and the Hubble tension, the unresolved disagreement over how fast the universe is expanding.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the most powerful astronomical imaging device ever built. With its ability to image the early universe, it provides observations that challenge our understanding of the cosmos, gradually leading to a new era in cosmology.

One of the unexpected observations made by JWST is the asymmetry between the number of galaxies that rotate in one direction and the number of galaxies that rotate in the opposite direction. That is, the number of galaxies imaged by JWST that rotate clockwise is not the same as the number of galaxies that rotate counterclockwise. That can be seen by observing spiral galaxies imaged by JWST deep field images.