Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
A weird cosmic flare called the ‘Cow’ now has company
Scientists have now found three similar luminous, short-lived bursts of light, part of a class known as fast blue optical transients.
- Planetary Science
Meteorites might be more likely to strike near the equator
Meteorites from Antarctica have helped scientists assess the total number likely to hit Earth every year — and where they are most likely to fall.
- Space
SpaceX’s astronaut launch marks a milestone for commercial spaceflight
Two NASA astronauts aboard the privately built Crew Dragon capsule are the first to be sent into orbit from U.S. soil since 2011.
- Space
Half the universe’s ordinary matter was missing — and may have been found
Astronomers have used fast radio bursts as cosmic weigh stations to tease out where the universe’s “missing matter” resides.
- Physics
A star shredded by a black hole may have spit out an extremely energetic neutrino
A star’s fatal encounter with a black hole might have produced a neutrino with oomph.
- Space
Stunning images of swirling gas and dust may show a planet forming
Infrared images show a spiral of gas and dust around a star 520 light-years away. A smaller, tantalizing twist hints at where a planet is coalescing.
- Astronomy
The oldest disk galaxy yet found formed more than 12 billion years ago
A spinning disk galaxy similar to the Milky Way formed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, much earlier than astronomers thought was possible.
- Chemistry
Astronauts may be able to make cement using their own pee
Lunar dust and a compound found in urine could be used to build future dwellings on the moon, a new study finds.
- Tech
Wiggling wheels could keep future rovers trucking in loose lunar soil
A rover that wriggles through soil could climb hills on the moon or Mars that are too steep for a simple wheeled bot.
- Space
Salty water might exist on Mars, but it’s probably too cold for life
Salty liquids may last for several hours on the Red Planet but be too chilly for any known microorganisms from Earth to survive, simulations suggest.
- Space
How tiny ‘dead’ galaxies get their groove back and make stars again
Computer simulations explain how puny galaxies can sustain star formation: Gas falls into them and billions of years later begins to create new stars.
- Space
The closest black hole to Earth may have been spotted 1,000 light-years away
What appears to be the closest black hole to the solar system shares orbits with two massive stars, a new study finds.
