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A group of astrophysicists believe they have discovered the first potentially habitable exoplanet, named Gliese 581d. And there could be billions more just like it. 

Given current technology, the vast distances between objects in outer space prohibit interstellar travel—missions to and from foreign stars—but a fusion powered spaceship could change that. 

Fifty years after Gagarin, plans abound for crewed missions into deeper space. A near-Earth asteroid landing, one-way trip to Mars, or hover point hiatus in mid-space, anyone?

Beyond wind and solar, a variety of carbon-free energy sources—biofuels, geothermal and advanced nuclear energy—are seen as possible ways of meeting rising global demand. 

A showdown over the course of Solar System exploration has ended with a qualified victory for Mars. NASA firmly favours a mission to Mars over a rival one to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

In second grade, my teacher made a statement that literally shocked me to the core. I have not forgotten it after all these years. She said, “God so loved the […]

In a recent essay posted online, NASA scientist James Hansen explains what he calls the “Easter Bunny” fantasy that we can adequately address climate change by providing subsidies for renewable […]

The fabled planetary alignment predicted to occur in 2012 is actually happening right now. Is this a sign of the Apocalypse, or just eye candy for stargazers?

The first total lunar eclipse of 2011 took place less than a week ago although people residing in North America weren’t able to enjoy it. This time around, people in […]

For a few decades now, the title holder for largest volcano in the solar system has been Mars’ Olympus Mons. The volcano is a large – and by that I […]

Whether there is a God or not, the universe per se cannot have a purpose in any anthropomorphic sense for which that term is usually employed, says Michael Shermer.

Around 2012, the sun’s magnetic cycle will reach its peak, increasing the chances of massive magnetic storms that could wipe out the satellites that govern GPS, television streams, and even the Internet.

A new photovoltaic energy-conversion system with many practical applications developed at M.I.T. can be powered solely by heat, generating electricity with no sunlight at all.

The Economist last week ran a feature and editorial on the new age of the Anthropocene, a term coined by scientists and now increasingly used by others to refer to […]

Ices stripped off a long-lost moon may have provided the raw materials for Saturn’s rings and inner satellites before the Titan-twin slammed into its mother planet, new research shows.

Now that AGU is behind us and that I’ve waded through a lot of grading (over the weekend: 4 sets of labs and one each of papers and homework), I […]

How can an entire universe come out of nothing? This would seem to violate the conservation of matter and energy, but Michio Kaku explains the answer.

British engineers have warned that the UK may be dangerously over-reliant on satellite-navigation signals, with little or no back-up and risk of cascade failures.

There has long been a desire to prove a connection between Earth’s geological activity and the gravitational resonance of the moon and the sun. Is there any truth to this claim?

I’ve been trying to keep up with all the volcano news in the outside world while attending the conference … and boy it is a bit of a challenge. Thank […]

A firestorm of speculation has been generated by a notice from NASA announcing a major discovery in the field of astrobiology, to be released today at 2 p.m. According to […]

Could the power of gravity be harnessed as a means of nearly instantaneous communication between planets—and even galaxies?

So he will write a book, even if he does not want to write a book. “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” Assange said, and […]

“A planet census suggests that there are 50bn with the same mass as Earth and that around a fifth of these have liquid water.”

Remember Scott Bursaw’s ingenious solar roadways prototype? Now, the small town of Krommenie in Northern Holland is planning to pilot a similar concept on cycling paths. Developed by Dutch innovation […]

(Note: Look for updates on Merapi and Kliuchevskoi later today) I caught an article over the weekend about the potential of recent volcanism on Venus. The study that appeared Geophysical Research Letters found […]

Here are my notes from Day 2 of the World Technology Summit. I’ve been hangin’ with Dr. John Nash, my colleague at ISU. Today we learned about India’s Barefoot College […]

On the 9th of December, Astronomers Madhusudhan, Harrington and colleagues recently discovered a massive gas giant planet, orbiting a star which they have coined the first carbon-rich world ever observed. […]

It’s long been speculated that the largest moon of Saturn, Titan, has large volcanoes made of ice. In 2005, it was thought that one of these ice volcanoes had been […]

“Two planets similar to Earth have been discovered circling the dwarf star Gliese 581. Using new, super telescopes, astronomers are now searching for signs of life.”