An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a study of 17 molecular clouds in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way’s satellite dwarf galaxies. A team of researchers led by Kazuki Tokuda, a postdoctoral researcher at Kyushu University, Japan, examined high-resolution images captured using the ALMA radio telescope to obtain information on their characteristics. The examination showed that 40% of those clouds had a more diffused gas, with fluffy structures. The others were classic molecular clouds with a filamentary structure that are also found in the Milky Way. This difference was attributed to the scarcity of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a situation similar to that of the early universe.