Earth's Place in the Universe
- Planets
Planets like Star Wars’ Tatooine could be fit for life
Like Luke Skywalker’s home, planets orbiting two stars may be plentiful. A new computer model suggests that many of those worlds could sustain life.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Equinox and Solstice
Equinoxes and solstices mark the maximums, minimums and mediums of hours spent in daylight.
- Space
Spacecraft traveling through a wormhole could send messages home
A probe going through a wormhole should be able to send messages home before such a tunnel forever closes, a new computer model finds.
- Math
Scientists Say: Calculus
Calculus is math that deals with curves, from their changing slopes to the areas they enclose.
- Planets
Saturn’s moon Enceladus wears a thick blanket of snow
Pits on the frosty moon reveal the snow’s surprising depth, up to 700 meters (2,300 feet) in some places.
- Planets
The dwarf planet Quaoar hosts an impossible ring
Quaoar’s ring lies outside the Roche limit. That’s an imaginary line beyond which rings aren’t thought to be stable.
- Physics
Let’s learn about the quantum realm
On the smallest scales, the universe behaves in some pretty strange ways.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Fission
Nuclear fission is the process of splitting atoms apart to release huge amounts of energy.
- Physics
Explainer: Radioactive dating helps solve mysteries
Knowing the decay rate of radioactive elements can help date ancient fossils and other artifacts.
- Earth
Fossil-fuel use is confusing some carbon-dating measurements
Carbon-14 dating of recent artifacts will soon give scientists confusing results. That’s another price society pays for its reliance on fossil fuels.
- Space
NASA is readying to send humans back to the moon
The launch of NASA's Artemis I is a huge step toward sending humans back to the moon and beyond.
- Planets
Mars might still be volcanically active, quakes there suggest
Seismic rumblings picked up by NASA’s InSight lander hint at molten rock moving deep below the planet’s fractured surface.
