Space & Future
Lava planet has hydrogen-rich, active atmosphere
It’s 2158, and you’re chugging away on your PhD in Planetary Volcanology from the University of Utopia Planitia on Mars. Graduate students still get...
Astronomers detect the fuel for star formation in some of the universe’s earliest galaxies
Astronomers have made a major breakthrough by directly detecting the gas that fueled star formation in some of the universe’s earliest galaxies.
The discovery offers...
Ancient stellar debris is still falling on Earth after 100 million years, study finds
Tiny traces of material from a giant cosmic explosion are still falling to Earth more than 100 million years after the event occurred, according...
Astronomers discover Sun-like star that likely swallowed one of its planets
A team of astronomers has found strong evidence that a star similar to our sun may have eaten one of its own planets.
The star,...
A star’s death throes involves a lot of kicking
When stars like our Sun age, they puff up into red giants.
Their bubbling outer mass gradually escapes into space, and their remaining cores contract...
The best place to look for alien megastructures might be moon dust
Our search for technosignatures - clear signs of advanced civilizations beyond Earth - takes many forms.
Many are driven by the famous Drake equation, which...
A tiny lab-made universe may help solve the mystery of time
Time seems like one of the most basic parts of everyday life. We use clocks to measure it, plan our days around it, and...
Consciousness may exist beyond humans, animals, and even Earth
Could consciousness exist in alien life forms that look nothing like us? Could it even appear in machines?
According to a new paper by philosophers...
Cosmic “galaxy-killing wind” may explain why some galaxies died so young
Astronomers have discovered a powerful “galaxy-killing wind” in the early universe that may help solve one of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy: why...
JWST finds exoplanets choked by diesel smog
It’s 2134, and humanity has finally embraced green technologies while ridding the Earth of harmful fossil-burning technologies, most notably gasoline, wood, coal, and oil.
As...
The Universe is Still Running Away From Us
Here's one of the most unsettling facts in all of science. The universe is not just expanding, it’s expanding faster and faster.
Every galaxy is...
Scientists use light echoes to hunt dark matter around giant black holes
Dark matter remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.
Scientists cannot see it directly, yet they believe it makes up most of the matter...
Deep Space
There’s a particle accelerator at the center of the Milky Way
Nestled on the slopes of Cerro La Negra at an elevation of 13,000 feet is an unusual-looking observatory.
Known as the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC)...
Did the early universe balloon? A “mirror” universe could be a simpler answer
We live in an amazing time for understanding the universe.
Our powerful telescopes show that the cosmos is simpler than expected on the largest scales.
Meanwhile,...
How to build concrete on Mars from local materials
Imagine you’ve just gotten to Mars as part of the first contingent of settlers.
Your first challenge: build a long-term habitat using local materials. Those...
This massive gas giant orbiting a tiny red dwarf tests our planet formation theories
The discovery of a Saturn-sized gas giant orbiting a small red dwarf is urging astronomers to reconsider their theories of planet formation.
Typically, astronomers find...
Nearby galaxies suggest the universe may be expanding more slowly than thought
For decades, scientists have tried to measure how fast the universe is expanding.
This expansion rate is known as the Hubble constant, and it plays...