Space & Future
Utah’s “soda pop” geysers may hold clues to life on distant ocean worlds
In the dry desert of eastern Utah, strange geysers shoot cold, fizzy water into the air.
Instead of boiling like the famous hot geysers in...
If aliens already called, why didn’t we hear?
For more than 60 years, scientists have been scanning the skies for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.
Using powerful telescopes, they have searched for...
Scientists make a game-changing find in the Bennu asteroid
In 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission delivered samples of the 4.6-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu to Earth.
Upon examining them, scientists discovered that the asteroid - which existed...
James Webb Telescope detects rotten-egg gas on alien worlds for the first time
Astronomers have detected a smelly gas best known for the odor of rotten eggs—hydrogen sulfide—in the atmospheres of four giant planets far beyond our...
How a rare element could fuel the next generation of space missions
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are taking a fresh look at neptunium, a rare radioactive metal that...
Scientists finally solve the mystery of how the most common planets form
Astronomers have finally figured out how the most common types of planets in our galaxy are formed—by watching a set of baby planets grow...
Astronomers spot one of the earliest galaxy clusters ever discovered
Astronomers using two of NASA’s most powerful space telescopes have discovered a massive cluster of galaxies forming much earlier in the universe than scientists...
Did two moons crash to create Titan? New study uncovers dramatic origin story
Saturn’s giant moon Titan and the planet’s famous rings may share a dramatic origin story.
A new study suggests that Titan could have formed when...
Astronomers find new way to detect supermassive black hole pairs
Scientists believe that when galaxies collide and merge, the supermassive black holes at their centers should eventually pair up and orbit each other.
These enormous...
Living in space can change where your brain sits in your skull
Going to space is harsh on the human body, and as a new study from our research team finds, the brain shifts upward and...
Mars’ “young” volcanoes tell a story of long, hidden activity
Volcanoes may look like simple mountains that erupted once and then fell silent, but in reality they are often the surface expression of complex...
Astronomers watch a giant star quietly collapse into a black hole
Astronomers have captured one of the clearest views ever of a massive star dying—not in a dramatic supernova explosion, but by quietly collapsing into...
Deep Space
Scientists find stellar eggs near galactic center are hatching into baby stars
Astronomers found a few stellar eggs containing baby stars around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
Previous studies...
Life from Earth could temporarily survive on Mars, shows study
Some microbes on Earth could temporarily survive on the surface of Mars, finds a new study by NASA and German Aerospace Center scientists.
The researchers...
Researchers find new way to search for life on exoplanets
A Cornell senior has come up with a way to discern life on exoplanets loitering in other cosmic neighborhoods: a spectral field guide.
Zifan Lin...
Early galaxies and the puzzle of their mass: insights from James Webb space telescope
The recent findings from the James Webb Space Telescope have raised intriguing questions about the earliest galaxies in the universe.
Initial observations indicate that these...
Scientists reveal the chemical secret of star birth
Scientists have uncovered what might be a critical step in the chemical evolution of molecules in cosmic “stellar nurseries.”