Space & Future
How old is the universe? The oldest stars in the Milky Way may hold...
How old is the universe?
Scientists have long tried to answer this question, but different measurement methods have produced conflicting results.
Now, researchers from the University...
The coldest ‘stars’ in the galaxy might actually be alien megastructures
Ever since physicist Freeman Dyson first proposed the concept in 1960, the "Dyson sphere" has been the holy grail of techno-signature hunters.
A highly advanced...
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...
Deep Space
What makes Saturn’s atmosphere so hot
The upper layers in the atmospheres of gas giants -- Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune -- are hot, just like Earth's.
But unlike Earth, the...
Growing black holes have much in common with baby stars
First looks would tell most observers that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and very young stars have nothing in common.
But that’s not true. Astronomers have...
Jupiter’s moon Europa has less salty ice shell than previously thought
Below Europa’s thick icy crust is a massive, global ocean where the snow floats upwards onto inverted ice peaks and submerged ravines.
The bizarre underwater...
Scientists find most distant dusty galaxy hidden in plain sight
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted the light of a massive galaxy seen only 970 million years after the Big...
Did supernova explosions cause ancient mass extinctions on Earth?
Scientists from Keele University have found strong evidence that some of Earth’s past mass extinctions could have been caused by nearby supernova explosions—massive star...