How can you "touch the Sun" if you've always been inside the solar corona, yet will never reach the Sun's photosphere?
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What value does wit hold in genres defined by brute strength?
This technological feat changes our cosmic history.
Experts believe they could cut the time it takes a rocket to reach Mars by up to 25%, shaving about two months off the trip.
Surrounding Earth is a powerful magnetic field created by swirling liquid iron in the planet’s core. Earth’s magnetic field may be nearly as old as the Earth itself – and […]
How drugs, demons, and the search for immortality gave us words we use everyday.
The space agency describes the process of landing rovers on Mars as "seven minutes of terror."
Despite being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury "only" reaches 800 °F at its hottest. Venus is always hotter, even at night.
What do communist dictators Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong have in common with U.S. Presidents like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan? Hint: It’s the same thing they have in […]
The Sun produces a wide variety of particles and radiation throughout it, but all of its neutrinos are produced in the core: where nuclear reactions take place. The various reactions […]
Alzheimer's has proved difficult to treat. But solving the mystery of this ultra-rare frontotemporal dementia may unlock new understanding.
One silver lining of the pandemic: The value of common sense, facts and rational decisions increases.
We all have obstacles to overcome in pursuit of our goals. For Santa Claus, it’s clear that science is the key. Of all the challenges we face in our work, perhaps […]
Flattening the curve on panic and disinformation.
Carl Sagan—who first coined the term—was tempted to call them "star-tar."
It’s a great ambition of science enthusiasts all over the globe. It’s also a terrible idea. If you want to take the most pristine, unpolluted images of the Universe, your best […]
With 1.6 billion households in the world, how does Santa do it? With a little Christmas magic… and a lot of science! How does Santa Claus do it? In one long […]
The two planets most suited for habitability had very different fates. At last, scientists know why. Imagine the early days of our Solar System, going back billions of years. The Sun […]
The Parker Solar Probe is the first time a spacecraft will ever get this close to the sun.
The probe, no larger than a car, will be the closest a man-made object has ever gotten to the sun. We will be able to study and see it like we’ve never seen it before.
Two of our biggest science-fiction dreams might not remain fiction for much longer. Here’s how 21st-century science could make it real. For as long as human beings have looked up at […]
Before there were gravitational waves, multi-messenger astronomy got its start with the neutrino. Sometimes, the best-designed experiments fail. The effect you’re looking for might not even occur, meaning that a […]
When you look at the history of it, a strange pattern emerges.
Is it ever okay to believe in things we consider to be impossible or extremely improbable?
The US Air Force and DARPA are even working on laser shielding. That’s right. Force fields.
How the James Webb Space Telescope was made. “One way or another the first stars must have influenced our own history, beginning with stirring up everything and producing the other chemical […]
Descartes’ solitary, inward-facing mindset misconstrues the social nature of our thinking. Social Cartesianism better captures the soul of what matters in distinguishing humans from animals or machines.
Last week, Cassini plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere. Here are the top 6 things we learned from it while it was alive. “Being a scientist and staring immensity and eternity in the […]
The Lowline is the world’s first underground park. Well, almost: it’s testing the science of growing plants underground on Manhattan’s Lower East Side - and it’s a literal urban jungle.
A live blog event from Nobel Prizewinner Art McDonald. “It’s ironic: in order to observe the Sun, you need to go kilometers underground.” –Art McDonald In the 1960s, a huge […]