Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Agriculture
Martian soil may have all the nutrients rice needs
Experiments hint that in the future, we might be able to grow the staple food in the soils of the Red Planet.
- Planetary Science
A volcano on Venus was spotted erupting in decades-old images
A new look at old data reveals an eruption on Venus in the 1990s that was probably similar to Hawaii’s Kilauea eruption in 2018.
- Earth
A moon-forming cataclysm could have also triggered Earth’s plate tectonics
Deeply buried remnants of a hypothetical planet that slammed into Earth 4.5 billion years ago might have set subduction into motion.
- Astronomy
A runaway black hole has been spotted fleeing a distant galaxy
A bright streak stretching away from a remote galaxy might be the light from stolen gas and new stars caught in the wake of an escaping black hole.
- Astronomy
Newborn stars sculpt their galaxies in new James Webb telescope images
Dark voids riddle the galaxies’ faces, highlighting previously invisible details about how new stars alter their locales.
- Cosmology
Astronomers spotted shock waves shaking the web of the universe for the first time
Studying these elusive shock waves could give scientists a better look at the mysterious magnetic fields that permeate the cosmic web.
- Astronomy
Half of all active satellites are now from SpaceX. Here’s why that may be a problem
Of the roughly 7,300 active satellites in Earth orbit, about 3,600 are part of SpaceX’s growing fleet of Starlink internet satellites.
- Space
50 years ago, Earth’s chances of contacting E.T. looked slim
In 1973, a researcher calculated that it could take millions of years to contact aliens. But that hasn’t stopped scientists from trying.
- Astronomy
The Milky Way may be spawning many more stars than astronomers had thought
Glowing radioactive debris from massive stars indicates our galaxy mints 10 to 20 new stars a year — double to quadruple the standard number.
- Astronomy
The James Webb telescope found six galaxies that may be too hefty for their age
The galaxies formed in the universe’s first 700 million years and may be up to 100 times more massive than predicted.
- Space
What has Perseverance found in two years on Mars?
NASA's Perseverance rover has turned up volcanic rocks, signs of flowing water and some of the materials necessary for life.
- Astronomy
The James Webb telescope spotted the earliest known ‘quenched’ galaxy
A galaxy dubbed GS-9209 ceased forming stars more than 12.5 billion years ago after a 200-million-year-long sprint.
