Space & Future
Lava planet has hydrogen-rich, active atmosphere
It’s 2158, and you’re chugging away on your PhD in Planetary Volcanology from the University of Utopia Planitia on Mars. Graduate students still get...
Astronomers detect the fuel for star formation in some of the universe’s earliest galaxies
Astronomers have made a major breakthrough by directly detecting the gas that fueled star formation in some of the universe’s earliest galaxies.
The discovery offers...
Ancient stellar debris is still falling on Earth after 100 million years, study finds
Tiny traces of material from a giant cosmic explosion are still falling to Earth more than 100 million years after the event occurred, according...
Astronomers discover Sun-like star that likely swallowed one of its planets
A team of astronomers has found strong evidence that a star similar to our sun may have eaten one of its own planets.
The star,...
A star’s death throes involves a lot of kicking
When stars like our Sun age, they puff up into red giants.
Their bubbling outer mass gradually escapes into space, and their remaining cores contract...
The best place to look for alien megastructures might be moon dust
Our search for technosignatures - clear signs of advanced civilizations beyond Earth - takes many forms.
Many are driven by the famous Drake equation, which...
A tiny lab-made universe may help solve the mystery of time
Time seems like one of the most basic parts of everyday life. We use clocks to measure it, plan our days around it, and...
Consciousness may exist beyond humans, animals, and even Earth
Could consciousness exist in alien life forms that look nothing like us? Could it even appear in machines?
According to a new paper by philosophers...
Cosmic “galaxy-killing wind” may explain why some galaxies died so young
Astronomers have discovered a powerful “galaxy-killing wind” in the early universe that may help solve one of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy: why...
JWST finds exoplanets choked by diesel smog
It’s 2134, and humanity has finally embraced green technologies while ridding the Earth of harmful fossil-burning technologies, most notably gasoline, wood, coal, and oil.
As...
The Universe is Still Running Away From Us
Here's one of the most unsettling facts in all of science. The universe is not just expanding, it’s expanding faster and faster.
Every galaxy is...
Scientists use light echoes to hunt dark matter around giant black holes
Dark matter remains one of the biggest mysteries in science.
Scientists cannot see it directly, yet they believe it makes up most of the matter...
Deep Space
Mysterious cosmic explosion in the distant X-ray universe surprises astronomers
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has made an extraordinary discovery—a brilliant burst of X-rays in the deepest X-ray image ever captured.
This unexpected find has left...
What is the best radiation shielding for the surface of Mars
The planet Mars is calling to us.
At least, that is the impression one gets when examining all the planned and proposed missions to the...
Scientists detect an exoplanet spiraling to its doom around an aging star
For the first time, astronomers have spotted an exoplanet whose orbit is decaying around an aging star.
The doomed world appears destined to spiral closer...
How the squid galaxy’s neutrinos defy physics
Deep beneath the ice of the Antarctic lies a network of special detectors called the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.
These detectors, buried in a cubic kilometer...
NASA reveals stunning new portrait and sounds of our neighbor galaxy, Andromeda
NASA has released a breathtaking new image of the Andromeda Galaxy, our closest galactic neighbor.
Also known as Messier 31, or M31, Andromeda is located...