Space & Future
The unseen challenges of life on the moon
For the first time since the Apollo era, humans are preparing not just to visit the moon, but to live and work there for...
Did ghostly neutrinos turn into hidden radiation in the early universe?
Scientists have long been fascinated by neutrinos—tiny, nearly invisible particles that pass through matter almost without a trace.
They are among the most abundant particles...
James Webb telescope finds strange ‘forbidden planet’ around tiny star
Astronomers have discovered a strange giant planet that seems to break the usual rules of how planets form.
Known as TOI-5205 b, this world has...
Mars was once a world of rain
Mars is our nearest planetary neighbour and the world humans are most likely to set foot on beyond the Moon.
The fourth planet from the...
Earth may have formed closer to home than scientists thought
For many years, scientists believed that Earth was built from a mix of materials coming from both the inner and outer parts of the...
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...
Deep Space
NASA is done setting fires inside its doomed cargo spacecraft
Fire on a spacecraft can be catastrophic.
It can spread quickly in a confined space, and for trapped astronauts, there may be no escape.
It’s fading...
The Webb discovers a rich population of brown dwarfs outside the Milky Way
This stunning image of a star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is more than just a pretty picture.
It’s part of a scientific...
The universe was warm before it was bright
So first the Big Bang happens. Everything is incredibly hot and dense; there are photons flying everywhere, but they keep colliding with electrons and...
Life on Earth uses water as a solvent. What are some other options for...
There is a vast menagerie of potentially habitable worlds in the cosmos, which means the Universe could be home to a diversity of life...
A gamma ray burst lasted so long it triggered a satellite twice
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful astrophysical phenomena in the universe.
For a span of seconds to a few minutes, they can be...