New observations of galaxies reveal perplexing concentrations in certain directions, astronomers said today. Galaxies along the sight-lines toward distant explosive gamma-ray bursts appear to be four times as abundant as in the directions of quasars. Gamma-ray bursts are massive eruptions of dying stars. Quasars are constantly bright objects are thought to involve supermassive black holes surrounded by developing galaxies. There is no known reason why foreground galaxies should have any association with these background light sources, researchers said. "The result contradicts our basic concepts of cosmology, and we are struggling to explain it," said Jason X. Prochaska, associate professor of...