Can't help with clearing up your dilemma, however I recently learnt of informal experiments done in space. These experiments took granular materials such as sugar in a bag filled with liquid in zero gravity...

(would the gravity be zero? I mean there is mass? No matter, that question can be for another day)

...and watched how the sugar granules interacted. This helped give another theory of how our Solar System formed, maybe it could also be a small link to understanding the formation of larger structures such as the supercluster formations.

Oh, I also wish to add my compliments to the podcasts! I am seriously hooked, great work Frasier, Pamela and Rebecca!