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Where gravity comes from has been an utter mystery. String theory offers an explanation. 

From 13.4 billion years ago, the current record-holder is unlikely to fall anytime soon. Why? A combination of science… and luck. “We’ve taken a major step back in time, beyond what […]

But not every location was created equal. “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. […]

Want the speed of light, the fine-structure constant or others to change? There’s a new obstacle to overcome. “The mystery about α is actually a double mystery. The first mystery — the […]

But are any of these potentially Earth-like worlds actually inhabited? Here are the prospects. “It isn’t only the beauty of the night sky that thrills me. It’s the sense I […]

NASA debuted its own Giphy channel packed with gifs of the their missions and research.

Scientists release observation data from 1,600 stars in hopes the public can help find planets that orbit stars outside our solar system.

Everything in the Universe today was compressed into a tiny volume. But how small was it? “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play […]

Holes, lines, or even walls in space aren’t just fiction; they could actually exist! “Weakness of character is the only defect which cannot be amended.” –Francois de La Rochefoucauld The biggest lesson […]

You don’t have to detect a particle to know that dark matter is real. “You may hate gravity, but gravity doesn’t care.” –Clayton Christensen In the 1970s, Vera Rubin’s observations showed […]

Something not so different from these will be our ultimate fate. “A bit of mould is a pleiad of flowers; a nebula is an ant-hill of stars.” –Victor Hugo Nothing lives […]

We claim it’s the leftover glow from the Big Bang, but where is this light actually coming from? “We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we […]

Our universe is flat, geometrically. But what exactly does “flat” mean?

From a “faint smudge” to the most intricate objects in our galaxy, we’ve come an incredibly long way. “From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances … to […]

Meet LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. Yes, it’s giant LIGO, in space, and it’s happening! “Einstein’s gravitational theory, which is said to be the greatest single achievement of theoretical […]

How many galaxies are there in the observable Universe? For the first time, we don’t just have a ‘lower limit’ — we have an answer. “Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that […]

What caused the incredible eruption that Hubble caught on film? A predicted merger in 5 years might show us. “We have chased away the clouds, the sky is all ‘rose.’” –Francois […]

Did they perform their analysis sub-optimally? Maybe. But gravitational waves were seen no matter what. “We hope that interested people will repeat our calculations and will make up their own minds […]

And, in the process, surpasses every supernova ever seen in terms of brightness. “Even with all the collected data we cannot say with 100% certainty that the ASASSN-15lh event was […]

Not faster than 299,792,458 m/s, but faster than light moves through anything other than vacuum! “You are both fools. You cannot see thoughts, or angels. One is an abstract, the other […]

In 1987, the nearest supernova seen in nearly four centuries lit up Earth’s skies. Here’s what it looks like today. “When a star goes supernova, the explosion emits enough light to […]

If even black holes won’t last forever, what will happen when the last one goes? “My discovery that black holes emit radiation raised serious problems of consistency with the rest of […]

A new planet, bigger than Earth, could be lurking in the outer solar system. But new evidence says ‘probably not.’ “Although we were initially quite skeptical that this planet could […]

Want humans to go to the Moon or Mars? Then let’s stop wasting time and resources and go do it! “We had this whole big beautiful place for discovery, and all […]

Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, may spout water vapor miles into space, says NASA, making it possible to better determine whether its vast underwater oceans support extraterrestrial life.

How to turn a galaxy on, once and for all. “Speculating and predicting what lies beyond the boundary is fascinating. Finding out is even more fascinating.” –Wallace H. Tucker When two […]

If you “know” the answer before you ever begin, you might as well not even try. “I have difficulty to believe it, because nothing in Italy arrives ahead of time.” –Sergio […]

And what are our prospects for observing its event horizon? “Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the […]

There’s a point beyond which we cannot go, there are things beyond that we cannot know. But here’s what we expect. “The Edge… there is no honest way to explain it […]

Could there be a massive, giant planet beyond Neptune? Here’s what the science says… for now. “Finding out that something you have just discovered is considered all but impossible is one […]