Space
- Physics
Wireless devices crowd out cosmic radio signals and more
Cell phones and other devices emit radio waves that can interfere with important scientific research. That’s why researchers are seeking ways to share the radio spectrum.
- Physics
Meet STEVE, the northern lights in mauve
STEVE is a nontraditional aurora. It might be a visible version of usually invisible charged particles drifting through Earth’s upper atmosphere.
- Space
Scientists Say: Oort cloud
The very edge of our solar system is a crowded place. It’s full of ice and rocks in a bubble called the Oort cloud.
- Planets
Flared! How a planetary ‘neighbor’ may have been fried
Hoping for life on the planet our stellar neighbor Proxima Centauri? Don’t hold your breath. Its star may have sterilized its Earthlike exoplanet.
- Planets
Here’s why Venus is so unwelcoming
Venus is hard to study. Scientists also find it hard to get money to send spacecraft there. But researchers have ideas about how to tackle both challenges.
- Science & Society
Legendary physicist Stephen Hawking dies at 76
Theoretical research by Stephen Hawking helped shape how scientists and the public alike would come to understand black holes and other facets of astrophysics.
- Space
En route to Mars, astronauts may face big health risks
Going into space brings the thrill of a new frontier — and risks that scientists are racing to understand, from radiation to isolation.
- Chemistry
Human waste could power plastic-making in space
Someday recycled urine and exhaled breath could feed specially engineered yeast to make plastics and other useful chemicals on long space missions.
- Space
Preparing for that trip to Mars
These scientists are working to make a human mission to Mars a reality.
- Space
Most Americans would welcome a microbial E.T.
People are more likely to welcome than be scared by new evidence pointing to extraterrestrial life, Americans report — at least if the E.T.’s are tiny.
- Earth
Pollution from new technologies threatens astronomy
Pollution from new technologies will make it harder to observe the night sky, astronomers say.
- Planets
Saturn’s rings might be shredded moons
Final data from the Cassini spacecraft put a mass and a date of birth on the gas giant’s iconic rings.
