Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
Stellar panorama
A newly released portrait of the cosmos provides a 360-degree, human’s-eye view of the entire sky.
- Space
Defogging Titan’s methane mystery
Researchers have discovered fog just above Saturn’s moon Titan, indicating how methane cycles between the atmosphere and the surface of the moon.
- Space
Metamaterials mock the heavens
Proposed materials offer a way for physicists to study black holes and chaotic planetary orbits in the laboratory.
- Astronomy
New images and spectra from a rejuvenated Hubble
Newly released images provide graphic evidence that repairs have transformed the Hubble Space Telescope into a brand new observatory.
- Earth
Atmospheric rollercoaster followed Great Oxidation Event
Analyses of chromium isotopes in banded iron formations suggest oxygen levels fell for a period after the Great Oxidation Event.
- Space
Panel reports on human spaceflight
Panel suggests how to get human spaceflight program off the ground.
- Planetary Science
Celestial population boom
Large meteoroids are probably more common than telescopic surveys suggest, new analyses find.
- Space
The Status Quark
Murray Gell-Mann reflects on matter’s building blocks and scientists’ resistance to new ideas.
- Space
Particle imbalance may upset the apple cart
An asymmetry that the standard model of particle physics may not account for hints at the existence of a new and massive elementary particle.
- Space
Extrasolar planets at full tilt
Violent interactions between planets may have played a key role in shaping the architecture of many extrasolar planet systems. The sun’s planetary system may have escaped or recovered from such a catastrophe.
- Astronomy
Comet dust harbors life’s building blocks
Samples collected from a comet’s halo suggest comets could have carried amino acids to the early Earth
- Tech
Scientists propose lab-grade black holes
Creating tiny, artificial black holes could help uncover what happens to particles on the edge of full-sized black holes.
