Space & Future

Mars was once a world of rain

Mars is our nearest planetary neighbour and the world humans are most likely to set foot on beyond the Moon. The fourth planet from the...

Earth may have formed closer to home than scientists thought

For many years, scientists believed that Earth was built from a mix of materials coming from both the inner and outer parts of the...

Scientists discover why human sperm may struggle in space

Having a baby in space may sound like science fiction, but scientists are now studying whether it could actually work. New research suggests that one...

Scientists solve Saturn rotation puzzle after decades of confusion

For decades, scientists have been puzzled by a strange observation about Saturn. Depending on how it was measured, the planet seemed to spin at...

Scientists detect mysterious signal that could confirm primordial black holes

A strange signal from space may be offering a clue to one of the biggest mysteries in science. Researchers from the University of Miami believe...

Scientists reveal hidden radio signals from the edges of extreme stars

Pulsars are some of the strangest objects in the universe. They are the dense, rapidly spinning remains of dead stars, and they send out beams...

New study suggests atoms can “hear” ripples in spacetime

Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in space and time, created by some of the most violent events in the universe, such as when two...

Why the Small Magellanic Cloud is behaving so strangely

Astronomers have discovered that one of our closest neighboring galaxies is going through a dramatic transformation—and they can watch it happening in real time. The...

Giant craters may reveal if Psyche is a lost planetary core

When we think of asteroids, we almost immediately think of giant rocks bouncing around like the iconic chase scene in Empire Strikes Back, and...

Earth was already moving 3.5 billion years ago, study finds

The story of our planet is written in the slow movement of its surface. Over billions of years, shifting tectonic plates have shaped continents, opened...

How will Martian gravity affect skeletal muscle

NASA and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) plan to send astronauts to Mars as early as the next decade. Naturally, this ambitious goal requires...

This pair of brown dwarfs can’t get enough of each other

Binary stars are known to transfer mass to one another. In extreme cases, mass transfer can even cause a supernova explosion. That happens when...

Deep Space

Earth-size stars and alien oceans: An astronomer explains the case for life around white...

The sun will someday die. This will happen when it runs out of hydrogen fuel in its core and can no longer produce energy...

Two supermassive black holes on the verge of a merger

In March 2021, astronomers observed a high-energy burst of light from a distant galaxy. Assigned the name AT 2021hdr, it was thought to be...

Exploring the impact of the strong force on gravitational wave signals

In the silent vastness of space, there's an invisible symphony of waves constantly moving around us. These aren't ordinary waves; they're gravitational waves, ripples...

Mars isn’t dead. Its volcanoes could still be active

Most volcanism on the Red Planet occurred between 3 and 4 billion years ago, with smaller eruptions in isolated locations continuing perhaps as recently...

Black holes are surprising builders of the universe

Once upon a time, at the very beginning of everything, the universe was a place of incredible creation and mystery. New research has turned our...