Living only for the present, using up natural resources, polluting the environment without considering future generations — can humans ever change? Lawyer and popular-culture lecturer Abrams and her husband Primack, an astrophysicist noted for his work on dark matter, argue that people might, if only they learned a little cosmology. Echoing the words of Joseph Campbell, who studied the myths of ancient and modern peoples, the authors argue that the world needs a modern understanding of human beginnings — a common story. The origin of the universe — with concepts such as the Big Bang, co... (p. 30)

Scientists rethink what the first stars were like and how they formed. (p. 26)

The latest data from a NASA spacecraft give compositional clues and reveal craters that could hold frozen water (p. 12)

Three lines of evidence suggest that the sun’s next activity cycle will be delayed for years and may not happen at all, an outcome that could have major implications for Earth’s climate. (p. 12)

A new class of stellar explosion is very bright — and somewhat hard to explain. (p. 10)

Images of unprecedented resolution offer insight into how black holes swallow up matter. (p. 10)

The most complete view to date of the nearby cosmos takes in 45,000 galaxies. (p. 14)

A newly discovered feature at its fringes suggests the galaxy is an uncommon beauty: One half appears to be nearly a mirror image of the other. (p. 14)