Number 166 (Story #2), February 25, 1994 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein ARE ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES BORN IN THE COLLISIONS OF SPIRAL GALAXIES? The main argument against this hypothesis is the fact that globular clusters are more numerous in ellipticals than in spirals. One would have thought that some of the globulars would be lost in the collision and that they would therefore be less prevalent in ellipticals. Recent Hubble Space Telescope pictures of colliding spirals suggest, however, that new globular clusters may be formed in the collision process, notwithstanding the tendency (at least in our galaxy) for globular clusters to be extremely old structures. According to M.G. Edmunds of the University of Wales, the demonstration that new globular clusters were being formed would buttress the view that ellipticals and possibly other astrophysical objects are created out of collisions. (Nature, 10 Feb. 1994.)