The cataclysmic stellar explosion Supernova 1987A, visible to the naked eye, was the nearest and brightest supernova witnessed since the invention of the telescope four centuries ago. This volume deals with supernovae and their remnants, in terms of exceptional phenomena that produce and release high-energy nuclei and particles. Marking the thirtieth anniversary of SN 1987A, the proceedings of IAU Symposium 331 introduce the accumulating knowledge on these central sources in many active fields of investigation: stellar evolution and the diversity of supernova progenitors and their properties, explosive nucleosynthesis and particle acceleration in the most extreme environments known to physics, and the long-standing issues about the origins of heavy nuclei in the Universe and of cosmic rays. Through its interdisciplinary approach, this volume also sheds light on the open issues related to these topics and emphasizes topics of future interest with upcoming multi-wavelength and multi-messenger facilities.

On March 21, 2013, the European Space Agency released a map of the afterglow of the Big Bang. Taking in 440 sextillion kilometres of space and 13.8 billion years of time, it is physically impossible to make a better map: we will never see the early universe in more detail. On the one hand, such a view is the apotheosis of modern cosmology, on the other, it threatens to undermine almost everything we hold cosmologically sacrosanct. The map contains anomalies that challenge our understanding of the universe. It will force us to revisit what is known and what is unknown, to construct a new model of our universe. This is the first book to address what will be an epoch-defining scientific paradigm shift. Stuart Clark will ask if Newton's famous laws of gravity need to be rewritten; if dark matter and dark energy are just celestial phantoms? Can we ever know what happened before the Big Bang? What's at the bottom of a black hole? Are there universes beyond our own? Does time exist? Are the once immutable laws of physics changing?

Is an understanding of why we exist an impossible dream? Using the greatest minds in science past and present, including the collected words of many famous Nobel Prize winners, the author argues that an unspoken revolution is taking place within science. It involves the growing realisation that at the deepest level our world may be constructed from nothing more than mathematical patterns. We are taken on a rapid journey from the beginning of time to the present in a language that is informal and conversational. Without using equations we are introduced to the biggest mysteries in science, from the parallel universes now used by quantum computers to the shocking outcomes of entanglement as well as the recent discovery of Amplituhedrons which suggest that space and time are derived from geometry. Yet behind these exciting discoveries the author shows that there is a limit to human understanding that is constrained by simple logic. It means that the origin of all information - the final mystery - will forever be inaccessible to the human mind. This book provides a fascinating insight into not only the history of scientific discovery, but also our contemporary understanding of the cosmos.