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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Astronomy

    Astronauts set to return to Earth after nearly a year in space

    Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko are scheduled to return Earth on Tuesday after a record-setting 340 days in space.

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  2. Planetary Science

    Charon’s surface cracked when ancient subsurface sea froze

    A subsurface ocean on Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, might have once frozen and cracked the moon’s surface, creating some of the ridges and valleys seen today.

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  3. Astronomy

    Fast radio burst tracked to its galaxy of origin

    After years of searching, astronomers finally track an elusive cosmic radio signal to its home: a galaxy about 6 billion light-years away.

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  4. Cosmology

    Celebrating a new way to listen to the universe

    Editor in Chief Eva Emerson reflects on the detection of gravitational waves as a historic moment for physics.

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  5. Chemistry

    After 75 years, plutonium is still NASA’s fuel of choice

    On the 75th anniversary of the discovery of plutonium, the radioactive element is still not a major source of fuel for nuclear power plants in the United States.

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  6. Astronomy

    Black hole heavyweights triggered gravity wave event

    Those gravity waves came from two black holes more massive than any known outside a galactic core and formed in an environment different than the Milky Way.

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  7. Planetary Science

    120 seconds in Pluto’s shadow

    A 747 outfitted with a telescope worked with New Horizons to reveal details about Pluto’s atmosphere.

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  8. Astronomy

    Planets may emerge from stellar duo gathering icy dust

    Gas freezing onto dust grains around a binary star could be setting up a site where comets or even planets might someday form.

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  9. Physics

    ‘Gravity waves’ is an OK way to refer to gravitational radiation

    There’s not lexicographical basis for complaints that ‘gravity wave’ is incorrect usage for gravitational waves.

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  10. Physics

    The long road to detecting gravity waves

    Thanks to two colliding black holes, Einstein's historic prediction of gravitational waves disturbing the fabric of spacetime has finally been realized.

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  11. Physics

    Gravitational waves explained

    Colliding black holes send ripples through spacetime that can be detected here on Earth. What are these gravitational waves, and how did Advanced LIGO detect them?

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  12. Physics

    Gravity waves from black holes verify Einstein’s prediction

    Gravitational waves, tremors in the cosmic fabric of space and time predicted by Einstein a century ago, have finally been detected, opening a new avenue for exploring the universe.

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