Space & Future
Webb Telescope captures a giant galaxy being born around a growing black hole
Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to witness one of the most remarkable events ever observed in the early universe—a giant galaxy...
Scientists create inchworm-inspired soft robot that could explore Mars one day
Scientists have created a tiny robot inspired by the humble inchworm, and it could one day help inspect damaged sewer pipes, explore dangerous environments,...
Mars Express captures dozens of dust devils in Mars valley
Dust devils are a regular feature on Mars.
Just like those found on Earth, these mini whirlwinds form when parts of Mars are warmed by...
Scientists discover two giant planets fluffier than cotton candy
Astronomers have discovered two of the fluffiest planets ever found.
These giant worlds are so light and airy that they are actually less dense than...
NASA’s Hubble discovers ancient galaxy that helped clear the universe’s primordial fog
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have made an unexpected discovery that sheds new light on one of the universe’s greatest transformations.
They detected ultraviolet...
Mysterious ‘dark force’ may actually slow the growth of cosmic structures
Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in science. It cannot be seen directly because it does not emit, absorb, or reflect light.
Yet...
Astronomers discover giant ‘bow and arrow’ galaxy stretching 1.8 million light-years across
Astronomers have discovered a strange and spectacular galaxy that looks like a giant bow and arrow stretching across space.
The unusual object, named RAD-BAARG (Bow-And-Arrow...
The long-lived Chicxulub hydrothermal system lasted 8 million years
When a massive, ten-kilometer asteroid slammed into Earth about 66 million years ago, it created a massive crater.
The impact triggered a megatsunami and a...
Did gravitational tides cause Earth’s extinctions?
Life on Earth took a long evolutionary journey that eventually created us, the purportedly intelligent species that dominates the planet.
But there was no grand...
Scientists discover magnetic fields guiding the birth of stars
How do stars form?
Scientists know that stars are born when huge clouds of cold gas in space collapse under their own gravity.
But one mystery...
Scientists Warn Some Earth Pathogens May Survive a Journey to Mars
Could microbes from Earth survive on other worlds? New research suggests that the answer may be yes.
Ph.D. candidate Tommaso Zaccaria studied whether tiny organisms...
Iconic cosmic collision challenges long-held ideas about dark matter
The Bullet Cluster is one of the most famous objects in astronomy.
For years, many scientists have considered it one of the strongest pieces of...
Deep Space
A black hole has cleared out its neighborhood
We can’t see them directly, but we know they’re there. Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) likely dwell at the center of every large galaxy.
Their overwhelming...
This near-earth asteroid might be a lost fragment of the Moon
A near-Earth asteroid named Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon, according to a new paper published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment...
Tiny meteorites reveal the secret of earth’s early atmosphere
Iron micrometeorites, like seen here under a microscope, can provide new clues about the composition of the Earth's upper atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago.
Tiny...
How meteorite impacts shape the Moon’s thin atmosphere
While the Moon lacks the breathable air we have on Earth, it does have a very thin atmosphere, known as an "exosphere."
This delicate layer...
Astronomers get to the heart of Mira A’s latest outburst
Just a few hundred light-years from Earth, the famous variable star Mira A is huffing and puffing its outer layers to space. Its most...