Space & Future

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...

When two ‘failed stars’ team up to light the sky

Brown dwarfs are often called “failed stars” because they are too small to keep nuclear fusion going in their cores, the process that makes...

Scientists discover “rotten egg” planet with a massive ocean of lava

Astronomers have discovered a strange new kind of planet beyond our solar system—one that may be covered by a vast, long-lasting ocean of molten...

Deep Space

Alien ocean world? Webb Telescope finds strongest clues yet of life beyond Earth

Astronomers have found the strongest hint yet that life might exist beyond our solar system. Using the powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team...

Get ready for more strange, icy interstellar objects

Gregory Laughlin and Malena Rice weren’t exactly surprised a few weeks ago when they learned that a second interstellar object had made its way...

How black holes launch powerful jets across the universe

When astronomers released the first-ever image of a black hole in 2019, the world caught a glimpse of the monster at the center of...

Examining exploding stars through the atomic nucleus

Did you know that scientists are now able to recreate massive stellar explosions, known as classical novae, in laboratories on Earth? These explosions play a...

What makes brown dwarfs so weird

Meet the brown dwarf: bigger than a planet, and smaller than a star. A category of its own, it’s one of the strangest objects...