Space & Future
Scientists spot unexpected cold region inside Jupiter’s northern lights
Jupiter’s northern lights are the most powerful in the solar system, but new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed surprising...
Mars Express reveals a landscape filled with ancient craters on the red planet
A new image captured by the Mars Express orbiter offers a striking view of one of the most heavily cratered regions on Mars.
The image...
Scientists discover super-tough microbe that could survive a journey from Mars to Earth
Life on Earth may not be as isolated as we once thought. New research from Johns Hopkins University suggests that tiny life forms could...
Red dwarf stars might starve alien plants of the quality light they need to...
Red dwarfs make up the vast majority of stars in the galaxy.
Such ubiquity means they host the majority of rocky exoplanets we’ve found so...
How long do civilizations last
It is one of the most famous questions in science, and it was asked, as legend has it, over lunch.
Enrico Fermi, the physicist who...
Scientists discover cost-saving way to build structures on the moon
Scientists are exploring an exciting idea for future space missions: building structures on the Moon using the Moon’s own soil.
A new study shows that...
Giant dying stars create tiny cosmic dust that could form new planets
A new study shows that some of the largest and most powerful stars in the universe are producing incredibly tiny particles of carbon dust—material...
New method may finally resolve the “Hubble tension” puzzle
Scientists have known for nearly a century that the universe is expanding, with galaxies moving away from each other over time.
The speed of this...
Can Martian soil kill Earth microbes? Water bears reveal surprising clues
Scientists are using one of Earth’s toughest microscopic creatures to explore an important question for future space travel: Could the soil on Mars naturally...
6 million years ago something slammed into modern-day Brazil
Giant impacts on Earth's surface can be cataclysmic events with far-reaching consequences. They can excavate massive craters like the Vredefort Crater.
There's also growing evidence...
Early Mars was warm and wet not icy
A recent study showed that Mars was warm and wet billions of years ago.
The finding contrasts with another theory that this era was mainly...
Moon once had a magnetic field stronger than Earth’s—But only for brief moments
For decades, scientists have debated whether the Moon once had a powerful magnetic field like Earth’s or only a weak one.
Now, a new study...
Deep Space
How a black hole is ‘starving’ its galaxy to death
Astronomers using the powerful NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope have made a groundbreaking discovery: supermassive black holes can actually starve their host galaxies of...
Dark matter isn’t behind mysterious space signals from nearby galaxies
Researchers have ruled out dark matter being responsible for mysterious electromagnetic signals previously observed from nearby galaxies.
Prior to the new work there were high...
A walking balloon could one day explore Titan – or Earth’s sea floor
Novel ways to move on other celestial bodies always draw the attention of the space exploration community.
Here at UT, we’ve reported on everything from...
Giant water plumes on Saturn’s moon Enceladus astonish scientists
Scientists have made an astonishing discovery about one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, using the powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
There are mysteries at Venus. It’s time for an astrobiology mission
When scientists detected phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere in 2020, it triggered renewed, animated discussions about Venus and its potential habitability.
It would be weird if...