Going to smaller and smaller distance scales reveals more fundamental views of nature, which means if we can understand and describe the smallest scales, we can build our way to […]
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In 1990, we only knew of the ones in our Solar System. Today, we know of thousands, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
And if it does strike us, how much damage will it cause? Will near-Earth asteroid Apophis strike us in 2068? Generically, asteroids under ~1 km in size are irregularly shaped, will […]
The Universe has asymmetries, but that’s a good thing. Imperfections are essential for the existence of stars and even life itself.
We’ve already observed three cases where it’s happened. When you look at an object in space, it’s pretty easy to tell if it’s a star or a planet. Stars are […]
Your life is far more arbitrary than you might think.
The laws of physics obey certain symmetries and defy others. It’s theoretically tempting to add new ones, but reality doesn’t agree.
Information may not seem like something physical, yet it has become a central concern for physicists. A wonderful new book explores the importance of the “dataome” for the physical, biological, and human worlds.
Soviet researchers studied crime through a Marxist-Leninist lens. Under Lenin, a humanitarian approach to criminality briefly emerged, but dissipated when Stalin rose to power.
Time travel is possible, but only in one direction.
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How we handle grief largely depends on our worldview. Here is how three famous philosophers handled the certainty of grief and despair.
In a world of rising cynicism, a celebration of our capacity to create, adapt, and thrive.
This map of Hutterite colonies in North America says something about religion and evolution — and more precisely, speciation.
Before we formed stars, atoms, elements, or even got rid of our antimatter, the Big Bang made neutrinos. And we finally found them.
And either way, is energy or information conserved? When two things in the Universe that “always” occur meet one another, how do you know which one will win? Gravitational waves, […]
Only the best physical theories outlast the minds that invented them. Throughout the 20th century, a number of discoveries revolutionized our Universe. The discovery of the interior structure of atoms as […]
When you don’t have enough clues to bring your detective story to a close, you should expect that your educated guesses will all be wrong.
Unless you have a critical mass of heavy elements when your star first forms, planets, including rocky ones, are practically impossible.
The upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is the event of a lifetime.
Can spacekime help us make headway on some of the most pernicious inconsistencies in physics?
At very high and very low temperatures, matter takes on properties that open up an entire Universe of remarkable new possibilities.
When people pick the greatest scientist of all-time, Newton and Einstein always come up. Perhaps they should name Johannes Kepler, instead.
Move over, IC 1101. You may be impressively large, but you never stood a chance against the largest known galaxy: Alcyoneus.
In terms of the planets we’ve discovered, super-Earths are by far the most common. What does that mean for the Universe?
The eastern inner core located beneath Indonesia’s Banda Sea is growing faster than the western side beneath Brazil.
Only 17 years after its discovery have we learned we’re safe from asteroid Apophis. Ever since its 2004 discovery, asteroid 99942 Apophis has threatened planet Earth. Asteroid Apophis has been measured […]
Just say no to artist’s illustrations. This is what the Universe actually looks like. The Universe we observe often surpasses our greatest imaginings. This 20-year time-lapse of stars near the center […]
Filaments, hundreds of millions of light-years long, were just caught spinning. In our own cosmic backyard, everything we see spins, rotates, and revolves in some fashion or other. Our planet […]
Yes, we’d all die. But for 21 minutes, we’d have the ride of a lifetime. One of the most remarkable facts about the Universe is this: in the absence of […]
When you view your right hand in a mirror, it appears as a left hand. Writing is reversed, as is the direction of any spinning object: clockwise becomes counterclockwise and […]