OpinionNovember 27, 2024
Why We Probably Won’t Find Aliens Anytime Soon
Odds are that we’re not truly alone in the cosmos. But practically speaking, we might as well be
Universe
Planetary ScienceNovember 19, 2024
Famous Star Hasn’t Formed Planets, and We Don’t Know Why
The nearby star Vega, featured in the 1997 movie Contact, appears to have a smooth disk devoid of giant planets for reasons we can’t explain
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Extraterrestrial LifeNovember 15, 2024
The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50
In 1974 we beamed a radio transmission into space that changed the way we think about our place in the cosmos
The UniverseNovember 15, 2024
What’s the Roundest Object in the Universe?
Finding a perfect sphere is actually pretty difficult
Quantum PhysicsNovember 13, 2024
Alternate Timelines Can’t Help You, Quantum Physicists Say
The multiverse offers no escape from our reality—which might be a very good thing
AstrophysicsOctober 31, 2024
Scientists Spy a ‘Dandelion’ Supernova around a ‘Zombie’ Star
A strange supernova remnant first appeared as a “guest star” seen in 1181 by sky watchers in China and Japan
AstronomyOctober 30, 2024
Fastest Known Planetary System Might Have Been Pushed by Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole
This blazingly fast star is shooting through the Milky Way with a planet in tow
Dark EnergyAugust 19, 2024
Something Is Wrong with Dark Energy, Physicists Say
Cosmic surveys suggest the force pulling the universe apart might not be constant after all
OpinionJuly 17, 2024
Why We Can’t Rule Out Alien Spaceships in Earth’s Atmosphere (Yet)
We can and should look harder for evidence of alien visitors to our solar system
AstronomyJuly 11, 2024
This Equation Shows That the Universe Will Run out of Stars
The cosmos is dark. The Lilly-Madau diagram reveals that it will become much darker still
OpinionJune 27, 2024
JWST’s ‘Little Red Dots’ Offer Astronomers the Universe’s Weirdest Puzzle
The James Webb Space Telescope’s search for the earliest stars and black holes has yielded a very weird, very red, puzzle
AstrophysicsJune 21, 2024
Supernova Slowdowns Confirm Einstein’s Predictions of Time Dilation
Analyzing 1,504 supernovae into the distant universe, astronomers have shown the clearest evidence yet for cosmological time dilation as predicted by Einstein