The origin of life on Earth may have nothing to do with Earth at all. “An extrapolation of the genetic complexity of organisms to earlier times suggests that life began before […]
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Our most common fears of the “other” extend even into outer space. Here’s why those fears are baseless. “Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without […]
Unpredictable winters? Seasons that don’t line up? It’s possible with the right configuration, says physics. “Lord of Light! Come to us in our darkness. We offer you these false gods. Take […]
With five moons orbiting it, Pluto is the richest rocky world known to date. How did it get that way? “We really expect the mission to be transformational. This is the […]
Brown dwarfs are the ultimate failed stars, but they might not remain as failed forever. “[Brown dwarfs] appear to live a more exciting life than we presumed. They are too big […]
Life may not be a rarity after all, but the result of a certain set of conditions.
Are we about to make a breakthrough to go beyond black holes? Here’s what it means if we do! “It’s becoming clear that in a sense the cosmos provides the only […]
The red planet is nearby, cool, sunny, and was once potentially habitable. Could it someday be that way again? “It would be great some day to have astronauts in a rover […]
It isn’t just the morality that’s dubious in the newest iteration of Star Trek. “If I die trying but I’m inadequate to the task to make a course change in the […]
The Earth is round, Kyrie Irving. But not every world needs to be. “‘I’ll follow him to the ends of the earth,’ she sobbed. Yes, darling. But the earth doesn’t have […]
There’s a lot to learn about other worlds, but you can’t learn it all without looking up. “One should not need a teleportation device to decide whether a newly discovered object […]
Might Armageddon come not from an asteroid or a comet, but by something completely unseen altogether? “Honestly, if you’re given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don’t say ‘what […]
No one yet knows what challenges will confront humans living in deep space.
Before you even look through your telescope, you need to know where to begin. “If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control […]
Harvard scientists propose how mysterious Fast Radio Bursts from outer space could actually be powering the spacecrafts of an advanced alien civilization.
Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, offers an important 5-point plan for President Trump on space exploration and NASA’s budget.
A very small person asks a very big question: why aren’t the moons of gaseous planets also made of gas?
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More massive is bigger, less massive is smaller, right? That’s not even half the story. “Billions of years from now our sun, then a distended red giant star, will have reduced […]
Each might be as heavy as an asteroid and as tiny as a decimal point.
You might think that it should be all black, but then how would we see it? “It is conceptually interesting, if not astrophysically very important, to calculate the precise apparent shape […]
It might be the nearest supernova humanity will ever see. What will happen when it goes off? “Without these supernova explosions, there are no mist-covered swamps, computer chips, trilobites, Mozart or […]
With liquid water, an energy source, and the perfect raw ingredients, Enceladus might be the holy grail we’ve been seeking. This article is written by contributing author Jesse Shanahan. Jesse is […]
Churchill displays a surprising amount of knowledge on a question that we are still wrestling with.
The times in history when science was deadly and dangerous.
You’ve never seen a rogue planet like this. “Other galaxies like Andromeda are shooting these ‘spitballs’ at us all the time.” –James Guillochon, coauthor on the new study Black holes don’t […]
Have you heard that life is unlikely around low-mass, red dwarf stars? It might be time to rethink that flawed conclusion. “Laws of nature mixed with evolutionary/historical contingencies allow for […]
The red planet once wasn’t so different from Earth. Here’s what happened. “Mars’ atmosphere is so thin, you do not need a lot of streamlining. By the time the ship […]
The greatest new anime of 2015 has some incredibly powerful feats. Here’s the physics of the most sensational one. “Human beings are strong because we have the ability to change […]
I’ll meet you at the corner of Saruman and Aragorn
There’s a small rock orbiting our planet more distant than the Moon we know. Does that mean we have two Moons? “You can be the Moon and still be jealous of […]