Clear as mud: Desiccation cracks help reveal the shape of water on Mars
As Curiosity rover marches across Mars, the red planet's watery past comes into clearer focus.
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Astronomy & Space news
Where is the universe's missing matter?
Astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory have probed the gas-filled haloes around galaxies in a quest to find 'missing' matter thought to reside there, but have come up empty-handed – so where is it?
NASA's Tess spacecraft embarks on quest to find new planets
NASA's Tess spacecraft embarked Wednesday on a quest to find new worlds around neighboring stars that could support life.
New research seeks to optimize space travel efficiency
Sending a human into space and doing it efficiently presents a galaxy of challenges. Koki Ho, University of Illinois assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, and his graduate students, Hao Chen and ...
Martian moons model indicates formation following large impact
Southwest Research Institute scientists posit a violent birth of the tiny Martian moons Phobos and Deimos, but on a much smaller scale than the giant impact thought to have resulted in the Earth-Moon system. Their work shows ...
Black hole and stellar winds form giant butterfly, shut down star formation in galaxy
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have completed an unprecedented "dissection" of twin galaxies in the final stages of merging.
350,000 stars' DNA interrogated in search for sun's lost siblings
An Australian-led group of astronomers working with European collaborators has revealed the "DNA" of more than 340,000 stars in the Milky Way, which should help them find the siblings of the Sun, now scattered across the ...
Study: Diamond from the sky may have come from 'lost planet'
Fragments of a meteorite that fell to Earth about a decade ago provide compelling evidence of a lost planet that once roamed our solar system, according to a study published Tuesday.
Researchers study extended X-ray emission in the PKS 1718−649 radio source
Ramp compression of iron provides insight into core conditions of large rocky exoplanets
In a paper published today by Nature Astronomy, a team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Rochester have provided the first ...
The current ability to test theories of gravity with black hole shadows
Can we tell black holes apart? Astrophysicists at Frankfurt, the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, and Nijmegen, collaborating in the project BlackHoleCam, answer this question by computing the first images ...
Hello DARKNESS: Physicists team up with astronomers to commission the most advanced camera in the world
Somewhere in the vastness of the universe another habitable planet likely exists. And it may not be that far—astronomically speaking—from our own solar system.
SpaceX postpones launch of NASA's planet-hunter spacecraft
SpaceX postponed the launch of NASA's new planet-hunting mission Monday in order to verify the Falcon 9 rocket's navigation systems, the California-based company said.
We think we're the first advanced earthlings—but how do we really know?
Imagine if, many millions of years ago, dinosaurs drove cars through cities of mile-high buildings. A preposterous idea, right? Over the course of tens of millions of years, however, all of the direct evidence of a civilization—its ...
Unlocking the secrets to dark matter
University of Miami astrophysicist Nico Cappelluti studies the sky. An assistant professor in the Physics Department, Cappelluti is intrigued by the cosmic phenomena of super massive black holes, the nature of dark matter, ...
The gamma ray burst – supernova connection
A "core-collapse" supernova occurs when the iron core of a massive star collapses under the force of gravity and then rebounds, generating pressure waves and shocks that propagate outward. A superluminous supernovae is a ...
Japanese astronomers discover gas giant planets orbiting evolved stars
NASA's new planet-hunter to seek closer, Earth-like worlds
NASA is poised to launch a $337 million washing machine-sized spacecraft that aims to vastly expand mankind's search for planets beyond our solar system, particularly closer, Earth-sized ones that might harbor life.
Once upon a time in a thunderstorm
Thunderstorms in Earth's upper atmosphere remain something of a mystery. Scientists cannot reach them directly with instruments; they are too high for balloons and too low for weather satellites. Flying through thunderstorms ...
Hubble catches a colossal cluster
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a massive galaxy cluster glowing brightly in the darkness. Despite its beauty, this cluster bears the distinctly unpoetic name of PLCK G308.3-20.2.
Satellite aims to discover thousands of nearby exoplanets, including at least 50 Earth-sized ones
There are potentially thousands of planets that lie just outside our solar system—galactic neighbors that could be rocky worlds or more tenuous collections of gas and dust. Where are these closest exoplanets located? And ...
Circumbinary castaways: Short-period binary systems can eject orbiting worlds
Planets orbiting "short-period" binary stars, or stars locked in close orbital embrace, can be ejected off into space as a consequence of their host stars' evolution, according to new research from the University of Washington.
Are viruses the new frontier for astrobiology?
They are the most abundant form of life on Earth, but viruses – or their seed-like dormant state, known as virions – are outliers in our search for life on other planets. Now, one group of scientists are pushing for astrobiologists ...
An amazingly wide variety of planet-forming disks
With an instrument at the Very Large Telescope in Chile scientists of ETH Zurich observed planet-forming disks around young stars similar to the sun 4,5 billion years ago. Surprisingly, the disks are very different. The data ...
Radio telescope records a rare 'glitch' in a pulsar's regular pulsing beat
Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars and sometimes they abruptly increase their rotation rate. This sudden change of spin rate is called a "glitch" and I was part of a team that recorded one happening in the Vela Pulsar, ...
Trump's divisive pick to run NASA wins narrow confirmation
NASA's latest nail-biting drama was far from orbit as the Senate narrowly confirmed President Donald Trump's choice of a tea party congressman to run the space agency in an unprecedented party-line vote.
Los Angeles port commission approves SpaceX rocket facility
Los Angeles harbor commissioners have approved a permit for Space Exploration Technologies to build a facility on 19 acres of port land to manufacture a Mars rocket that will be so big it will require an oceangoing barge ...
Image: Lagoon Nebula (visible-light view)
This mayhem is all happening at the heart of the Lagoon Nebula, a vast stellar nursery located 4,000 light-years away and visible in binoculars simply as a smudge of light with a bright core.
Two Hubble views of the same stellar nursery
These NASA Hubble Space Telescope images compare two diverse views of the roiling heart of a vast stellar nursery, known as the Lagoon Nebula. The images, one taken in visible and the other in infrared light, celebrate Hubble's ...
Musk says that SpaceX will use a giant party balloon to bring an upper stage back
When Elon Musk of SpaceX tweets something interesting, it generates a wave of excitement. So when he tweeted recently that SpaceX might be working on a way to retrieve upper stages of their rockets, it set off a chain of ...
SpaceX poised to blast off NASA's new planet-hunter, TESS
SpaceX was poised Wednesday to try again to blast off NASA's newest planet-hunting spacecraft after a two-day delay to check out the Falcon 9 rocket's navigation systems.
Extreme environment of Danakil Depression sheds light on Mars, Titan and nuclear waste
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is a spectacular, hostile environment that may resemble conditions encountered on Mars and Titan – as well as in sites containing nuclear waste. From 20-28 January 2018, five teams of ...
Thinking about hitching a ride on a mission to Mars? One hazard you haven't considered
The hazards of space flight are well known: freezing temperatures, the vacuum of space, radiation, isolation. But there's a lesser-known risk getting the attention of researchers - a possible danger to vision. Retired NASA ...
NASA's new space 'botanist' arrives at launch site
A new instrument that will provide a unique, space-based measurement of how plants respond to changes in water availability has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin final preparations for launch to the ...
Image: Sounding rocket launches CHESS mission to study the matter between stars
The Colorado High-resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph, or CHESS 4, was successfully launched on a NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket at 12:47 p.m. EDT, April 16 (4:47 a.m. local, April 17) from the Kwajalein Atoll in ...
Image: First light from HyperScout imager
This first-light image from the miniature HyperScout instrument aboard ESA's newly launched GomX-4B CubeSat, shows the southern coast of Cuba.
What in the world is an exoplanet?
Step outside on a clear night, and you can be sure of something our ancestors could only imagine: Every star you see likely plays host to at least one planet.
Could we detect an ancient industrial civilization in the geological record?
As a species, we humans tend to take it for granted that we are the only ones that live in sedentary communities, use tools, and alter our landscape to meet our needs. It is also a foregone conclusion that in the history ...
Walking on the moon – underwater
It's one of the deepest 'swimming pools' in Europe, but for three years has been helping preparations for a human return to the moon. ESA's Neutral Buoyancy Facility at the European Astronaut Centre has been the site of the ...
An astronomical myth—astronaut ice cream
Astronaut ice cream's failed mission and the snacks you can get up in space.
Personal recollections of an astrophysicist shed new light on the 1995 discovery on 51 Pegasi b
In recent history, a very important achievement was the discovery, in 1995, of 51 Pegasi b, the first extrasolar planet ever found around a normal star other than the Sun.
Are we alone? NASA's new planet hunter aims to find out
Are we alone? NASA's new planet-hunting mission, poised to launch Monday, aims to advance the search for extraterrestrial life by scanning the skies for nearby, Earth-like planets.
Giving roots and shoots their space: The Advanced Plant Habitat
The Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), a recent addition to the International Space Station, is the largest growth chamber aboard the orbiting laboratory. Roughly the size of a mini-fridge, the habitat is designed to test which ...
Integrating optical components into existing chip designs
Two and a half years ago, a team of researchers led by groups at MIT, the University of California at Berkeley, and Boston University announced a milestone: the fabrication of a working microprocessor, built using only existing ...
New research could literally squeeze more power out of solar cells
Physicists at the University of Warwick have today, Thursday 19th April 2018, published new research in the fournal Science today 19th April 2018 (via the Journal's First Release pages) that could literally squeeze more power ...
New microscope captures detailed 3-D movies of cells deep within living systems
Our window into the cellular world just got a whole lot clearer.
Scientists create gold nanoparticles in water
An experiment that, by design, was not supposed to turn up anything of note instead produced a "bewildering" surprise, according to the Stanford scientists who made the discovery: a new way of creating gold nanoparticles ...
Genetic adaptations to diving discovered in humans for the first time
Evidence that humans can genetically adapt to diving has been identified for the first time in a new study. The evidence suggests that the Bajau, a people group indigenous to parts of Indonesia, have genetically enlarged ...
Diamond can turn flexible when made into ultrafine needles, researchers find
Diamond is well-known as the strongest of all natural materials, and with that strength comes another tightly linked property: brittleness. But now, an international team of researchers from MIT, Hong Kong, Singapore, and ...
Atoms may hum a tune from grand cosmic symphony
Researchers playing with a cloud of ultracold atoms uncovered behavior that bears a striking resemblance to the universe in microcosm. Their work, which forges new connections between atomic physics and the sudden expansion ...
Genome Jenga study reveals unexpected gene alliances in the cell
To understand how a cell works, biologists like to take it apart. By removing genes from cells in diverse combinations, researchers have now uncovered how different genes work together to keep cells alive. The research will ...
Researchers find that swarms of tiny organisms mix nutrients in ocean waters
Swarms of tiny oceanic organisms known collectively as zooplankton may have an outsize influence on their environment. New research at Stanford shows that clusters of centimeter-long individuals, each beating tiny feathered ...
Researchers use diamond impurities to see on the microscopic scale
It's not often that you see 50-year-old equipment in a modern physics laboratory, let alone find it at the center of cutting-edge research. But then, most such labs aren't run by Ronald Walsworth.
Unprecedented wave of large-mammal extinctions linked to ancient humans
Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and other recent human relatives may have begun hunting large mammal species down to size - by way of extinction - at least 90,000 years earlier than previously thought, says a new study published ...
Great Barrier Reef corals can survive global warming for another century
Using genetic samples and computer simulations, evolutionary biologists have made a glass-half-full forecast: Corals in the Great Barrier Reef have enough genetic variation to adapt to and survive rising ocean temperatures ...
New record on squeezing light to one atom: Atomic Lego guides light below one nanometer
All electronic devices consist of billions of transistors, the key building block invented in Bell Labs in the late 1940s. Early transistors were as large as one centimeter, but now measure about 14 nanometers. There has ...
Your grandchildren may retire before we achieve gender equality in STEMM
Researchers from the University of Melbourne analysed the numbers of men and women authors listed on more than 10 million academic papers, allowing them to calculate the gender gap among researchers, as well as its rate of ...
Virtually modelling the human brain in a computer
Neurons that remain active even after the triggering stimulus has been silenced form the basis of short-term memory. The brain uses rhythmically active neurons to combine larger groups of neurons into functional units. Until ...
A complete cell atlas and lineage tree of the immortal flatworm
From one stem cell to many differentiated body cells: Scientists from the MDC in Berlin, along with collaborating researchers in Munich, have published a comprehensive lineage tree of a whole adult animal in the journal Science. ...
Holey cow! Evidence of Stone Age veterinary 'surgery'
A hole in the skull of a Stone Age cow was likely made by humans about 5,000 years ago, probably by a primitive veterinarian or trainee surgeon, scientists said Thursday.
Homemade microscope reveals how a cancer-causing virus clings to our DNA
Using a homemade, high-tech microscope, scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have revealed how a cancer-causing virus anchors itself to our DNA. That discovery could pave the way for doctors to cure ...
Tiny fly blows bubbles to cool off: study
Humans sweat, dogs pant, cats lick their fur. Animals have adopted an interesting array of techniques for regulating body temperature through evaporation.
For nuclear weapons reduction, a way to verify without revealing
In past negotiations aimed at reducing the arsenals of the world's nuclear superpowers, chiefly the U.S. and Russia, a major sticking point has been the verification process: How do you prove that real bombs and nuclear devices—not ...
'Rip Van Winkle' plants hide underground for up to 20 years
Scores of plant species are capable of living dormant under the soil for up to 20 years, enabling them to survive through difficult times, a new study has found.
Researchers find new way of exploring the afterglow from the Big Bang
Researchers have developed a new way to improve our knowledge of the Big Bang by measuring radiation from its afterglow, called the cosmic microwave background radiation. The new results predict the maximum bandwidth of the ...
GLUT5 fluorescent probe fingerprints cancer cells
Determining the presence of cancer, as well as its type and malignancy, is a stressful process for patients that can take up to two weeks to get a diagnosis. With a new bit of technology—a sugar-transporting biosensor—researchers ...
New ant species from Borneo explodes to defend its colony
Amongst the countless fascinating plants and animals inhabiting the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, there are the spectacular "exploding ants", a group of arboreal, canopy dwelling ants nicknamed for their unique ...
Scientists show how salt lowers reaction temperatures to make novel materials
A dash of salt can simplify the creation of two-dimensional materials, and thanks to Rice University scientists, the reason is becoming clear.
Using the right plants can reduce indoor pollution and save energy
People in industrialized countries spend more than 80% of their lives indoors, increasingly in air-tight buildings. These structures require less energy for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning, but can be hazardous ...
Electrochemical tuning of single layer materials relies on defects
Perfection is not everything, according to an international team of researchers whose 2-D materials study shows that defects can enhance a material's physical, electrochemical, magnetic, energy and catalytic properties.
Optogenetic study shows that male flies find ejaculation pleasurable
Researchers reporting in Current Biology on April 19 show that male fruit flies find sex—and more specifically ejaculation—to be an inherently rewarding experience. The study is the first to show that the rewarding nature ...
Human protein important for cellular communication resembles bacterial toxin
A protein that plays an important role in embryonic development and nervous system wiring in humans appears to have been borrowed from bacteria. In a study published April 19, 2018, in Cell, scientists from the University ...
Spider silk key to new bone-fixing composite
UConn researchers have created a biodegradable composite made of silk fibers that can be used to repair broken load-bearing bones without the complications sometimes presented by other materials.
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