With James Webb and WFIRST launching soon, the Universe can expect a revolution. But what will it look like? “For the first time we can learn about individual stars from near […]
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Astrophysicists have been looking for worlds like Proxima b since the 19th century. At last, they’re found! This article is contributed by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized in […]
A live-blog event of an incredible public lecture by a scientist on the inside of James Webb’s team. “The [James Webb] telescope is basically designed to answer the big questions in […]
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 […]
Does your galaxy have a black eye? It’s not because of violence, I promise! “He ate and drank the precious Words,his Spirit grew robust;He knew no more that he was poor,nor […]
Over 300,000 light years long, a new record! “Mozart’s music is like an X-ray of your soul — it shows what is there, and what isn’t.” –Isaac Stern From 500 million light years […]
Irish scientists make an unexpected discovery about light by devising a new experiment.
In 30 million years, we’ll undergo star formation unlike anything else since before there were mammals on Earth. “Think about it this way — a boomerang goes out and comes back to you […]
When our imaginations run wild, it’s important to remember that’s our fault, not the data’s. “Otherwise we are trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t exist with a system which doesn’t […]
Occasionally, a star will blow off its outer layers in a sphere. The vast majority don’t, and ours probably won’t, either. “The self-same atoms which, chaotically dispersed, made the nebula, now, […]
If you thought the Kuiper belt was just icy worlds of various sizes orbiting like Pluto, think again. “There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this […]
“Eureka!” is not always as powerful as “that’s what I thought!” “Reality is what kicks back when you kick it. This is just what physicists do with their particle accelerators. […]
The massive black holes that formed LIGO’s first event were a surprise, and then a mystery. Here’s the long-awaited solution! “Black holes can bang against space-time as mallets on a […]
We have electric charges and currents in electromagnetism, so why not magnetic ones, too? “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is […]
Sotheby’s will auction off 380 pieces from Bowie’s collection later this year. The collection is “eclectic, unscripted, [and] understated,” according to Sotheby’s European chairman Oliver Barker.
And what, exactly, is the significance of a tetraquark? “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words […]
The cognitive equivalent of snacking on Twinkies dipped in whey protein to prepare for a triathalon.
The Orion Nebula demonstrates the answer. “So numerous are the objects which meet our view in the heavens, that we cannot imagine a point of space where some light would not […]
If black holes suck everything in and nothing can get out, what does that mean for dark matter? “A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another […]
The laws of physics appear to be symmetric between matter and antimatter. But the Universe tells a different story. “If you see an antimatter version of yourself running towards you, […]
Everything that’s inherently quantum in the Universe is both a wave and a particle. So, are gravitational waves? “You asked me how to get out of the finite dimensions when […]
And could what we see over there spell disaster for Earth? “An asteroid or a supervolcano could certainly destroy us, but we also face risks the dinosaurs never saw: An engineered […]
As we consider the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the question arises – can any war be fought as a “just” war?
Words of wisdom from J.K. Rowling: “Those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters; for without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it through our own apathy.”
The stars, gas, nebulae and dust in our galactic plane make it impossible to see through. But there are other forms of light. “Vision is the art of seeing what is […]
Picasso didn’t fight in World War I, but he still struggled with how that war influenced his art and life.
Planet Nine? More like “Planet maybe.” “Finding out that something you have just discovered is considered all but impossible is one of the joys of science.” –Mike Brown Last week, the […]
Words of wisdom from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling: “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case, you fail by default.”
The first human colonies might not be on the surface of Mars, but amidst the clouds of Venus. “I remember as a kid having a balloon and accidentally letting the […]
And here’s the reason why, despite all you may have heard. “Thou shalt not embarrass thyself and thy colleagues by claiming false planets.” –Bill Cochran Late last year, one of the […]