Space

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Space

    The incredible shrinking proton

    If the subatomic particle really is smaller than thought, a cherished theory may need tweaking.

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  2. Astronomy

    The universe according to Planck

    Science News editor in chief Tom Siegfried reports on a new image of the early cosmos from the Euroscience Open Forum meeting in Turin, Italy.

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  3. Space

    Making lemonade with quantum lemons

    Physicists produce “spooky action at a distance,” using a phenomenon that would usually disrupt it.

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  4. Earth

    Antarctic shoal breaks the ice

    Instruments on a massive berg help pinpoint a previously unreported undersea ridge.

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  5. Space

    Wet past for Red Planet

    An ocean blanketed one-third of Mars about 3.5 billion years ago, a new study suggests.

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  6. Physics

    Physics in free fall

    Physicists drop supercold atoms down an elevator shaft to see what will happen.

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  7. Space

    All flash, no crash

    New Hubble Space Telescope images confirm that Jupiter emerged unscathed from an impactor that created a fireball above the planet’s cloud tops on June 3. The new images indicate that the object exploded as a meteor in the planet’s upper atmosphere rather than plunging into the atmosphere

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  8. Space

    Astronomers stoke cosmic debate

    Astronomers from the United Kingdom have published papers criticizing some of the evidence used to support theories of dark matter and energy.

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  9. Space

    Kepler craft reports apparent planetary bonanza

    New results from an orbiting telescope promise to more than double the number of known extrasolar planets.

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  10. Earth

    Planes can trigger snowfall

    Under certain conditions, aircraft can trigger precipitation as they pass through moisture-laden clouds.

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  11. Space

    Familiar comets may have distant roots

    More than 90 percent of objects found in the vast outer–solar system reservoir may have been born around other stars, new computer simulations suggest.

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  12. Space

    Portrait of a youthful planet

    New pictures confirm that astronomers have recorded a planet circling the star Beta Pictoris, making the orb the youngest, star-orbiting extrasolar planet to be photographed.

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