Have you ever noticed that those last few Cheerios floating around the bottom of the bowl all tend to group together? Physicists have, and they think that it could help them unlock some of the secrets of the universe. The cereal in your bowl clumps together in a process that scientists call the "Cheerio effect", and it is based on three basic scientific concepts: buoyancy, surface tension and the meniscus effect. The buoyancy of the cereal determines how much of it will float above the milk, the surface tension of the milk will act as a membrane and help keep it afloat and the meniscus effect is what causes a little well-like dip around the cereal. It is this dent in the milk that causes the Cheerios to clump together as the "fall" into each other's dip. What does this have to do with space? Well, the mechanics of the cereal, as well as larger groups of floating particles such as pollen, can help explain the formations of galaxy clusters. The distribution of galaxies in the universe is not uniform as you might expect, but rather they are clustered together in groups. Understanding the mechanics of breakfast cereal can help scientists model and map the structure of the entire universe.