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

Astronomers may have found a signature of life on Venus

The search for life beyond Earth has largely revolved around our rocky red neighbor. NASA has launched multiple rovers over the years, with a new...

Space Force’s X-37B will perform “never before-seen maneuvers” in orbit

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) has been shrouded in mystery since its maiden flight in 2011. Designed by Boeing and operated by the U.S....

Can a dead star keep exploding?

In September 2022, an automated sky survey detected what seemed to be a supernova explosion about one billion light-years away. The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF)...

How to confirm life on other planets

The search for life on other planets has received a major boost after scientists revealed the spectral signatures of almost 1000 atmospheric molecules that...

Black hole collision may have exploded with light

When two black holes spiral around each other and ultimately collide, they send out ripples in space and time called gravitational waves. Because black holes...