Ever dreamt of being present during the birth of the first galaxies? Perhaps being able to fast-forward through billions of years of cosmic evolution to watch those galaxies grow and shape the universe we know today? Of course, that sadly isn't possible. But thanks to a revolutionary new and unique audiovisual simulation of "virtual universes," scientists have developed the best picture of cosmic evolution to date, and you too can see and hear it! (Left) The so-called cosmic web, where the color encodes the projected density of gas and stars. (Right) Two of the many galaxies formed in the simulations seen face-on (top) and edge-on (right). (Image credit: Schaye et al. (2026)) "It is exhilarating to see 'galaxies' come out of our computer that look indistinguishable from the real thing and share many of the properties that astronomers measure in real data, such as their number, luminosities, colors and sizes," COLIBRE team member Carlos Frenk said in a statement .…