Scientific American

To Look or Not to Look? That Is the Question

Avi Loeb — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 12:00:00 GMT

The search for technological relics of extraterrestrial civilizations will inspire the public and attract talent to the field of astronomy

Talking to My Daughter Can Be Harder Than Learning Quantum Mechanics

John Horgan — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Ordinary human dilemmas are tougher to solve than the most difficult problems of physics and mathematics

China Wants to Build a Mega Spaceship That's Nearly a Mile Long

Edd Gent, LiveScience — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 19:30:00 GMT

A proposal plans to study how to build a giant spacecraft

The Solar System's Oort Cloud May Harbor an Astonishing Number of Objects from Other Stars

Amir Siraj — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 19:00:00 GMT

Contrary to what we’ve long assumed, this reservoir of comets surrounding the solar system may have more visitors than permanent residents

Hidden Particle Interactions Exposed by Peeling Layers of Graphene

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 10:45:00 GMT

Ions flowing through atom-thin stacks of carbon confirm classic theories but also yield new surprises

Why Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin Is So Reviled

Chelsea Gohd, SPACE.com — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Economic inequality, an indulgent trip to space and an ongoing legal battle with NASA are putting the space company in the hot seat

The Physics and Hype of Hypersonic Weapons

David Wright, Cameron Tracy — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 16:30:00 GMT

These novel missiles cannot live up to the grand promises made on their behalf, aerodynamics shows

Singularities Can Exist Outside Black Holes--in Other Universes

Brendan Z. Foster — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 10:45:00 GMT

Recent work has shown how “naked singularities” might defy the cosmic censorship conjecture

Chinese Astronomers Eye Tibetan Plateau Site for Observatory Project

Meghan Bartels, SPACE.com — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:30:00 GMT

Years of weather monitoring suggest a high-altitude locale in Qinghai Province could host future telescopes

When Physicists Follow Their Gut

Paul Halpern — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 19:00:00 GMT

Fred Hoyle and George Gamow were brilliant iconoclasts who reached opposite conclusions about the expanding universe (for the record, Gamow was right)

This Report Could Make or Break the Next 30 Years of U.S. Astronomy

Lee Billings — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 15:30:00 GMT

A battle for the future of American stargazing is about to begin—and the stakes are sky high

NASA Just Broke the 'Venus Curse': Here's What It Took

Robin George Andrews — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:07:00 GMT

Despite the best efforts of scientists eager to study Earth’s sister world, U.S. efforts to send a dedicated spacecraft to Venus languished—until NASA made a surprising announcement

Astronomer Vera Rubin Taught Me about Dark Matter--and about How to Live Life

Ashley Jean Yeager — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 14:00:00 GMT

The groundbreaking scientist ushered in a revolution in how we think about the universe. She also lived by a set of principles that made her an exceptional human being

Brown Dwarfs Could Reveal Secrets of Planet and Star Formation

Katelyn Allers — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 17:30:00 GMT

They’re not quite stars and not quite planets but can help us understand both

When Will We Hear from Extraterrestrials?

Avi Loeb — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Project Galileo could make that happen sooner rather than later

What God, Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness Have in Common

John Horgan — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Theories that try to explain these big metaphysical mysteries fall short, making agnosticism the only sensible stance

The Art of Pondering Earth's Distant Future

Vincent Ialenti — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 18:00:00 GMT

Stretching the mind across time can help us become more responsible planetary stewards and foster empathy across generations

NASA Probe Finds Higher Chance of Asteroid Bennu Striking Earth

Meghan Bartels, SPACE.com — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:15:00 GMT

Using data from the OSIRIS-REx mission, scientists calculated slightly increased (but still low) odds the space rock will collide with our planet in the 2100s

Crumbly Mars Rock, Not Hardware Flaws, Scuttled Perseverance's First Sample Attempt

Robin George Andrews — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 15:45:00 GMT

After an alarming failure, the rover is set to continue its mission to retrieve specimens for eventual return to Earth

Astronomers Find an Unexpected Bumper Crop of Black Holes

Christopher Intagliata — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 14:00:00 GMT

In trying to explain the spectacular star trails of the star cluster Palomar 5, astronomers stumbled on a very large trove of black holes.

Martian Crust Could Sustain Life through Radiation

Nikk Ogasa — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 10:45:00 GMT

Meteorites reveal that so long as groundwater is present, the Martian subsurface is habitable

Exotic Four-Quark Particle Spotted at Large Hadron Collider

Davide Castelvecchi, Nature magazine — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 14:30:00 GMT

The rare tetraquark is one of dozens of nonelementary particles discovered at the accelerator and could help test theories about the strong nuclear force

The Ethics of Sending Humans to Mars

Nicholas Dirks — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 18:00:00 GMT

We need to avoid the mistakes European countries made during the age of colonization

NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Foiled in First Attempt to Grab Rock for Return to Earth

Robin George Andrews — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 17:45:00 GMT

Seeking to collect its inaugural core sample, the mission hopes to begin what could be humanity’s boldest search for extraterrestrial life

O UFOs, Where Art Thou?

Caleb A. Scharf — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 19:00:00 GMT

Five reasons why sorting all of this out is so scientifically challenging