Two New Arrivals Send Back Pictures Of Mars
The skies of Mars just got a little more crowded. On September 21st, 2014 NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) fired its engines for some 33 minutes in order to swing into a safe orbit.
Dark Matter Looks WIMPy
Data from the International Space Station-based Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment supports the idea that dark matter consists of the invisible particles called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. Clara Moskowitz reports
Betting Against Gravitational Waves: Q&A with Cosmologist Neil Turok
Failure to discover primordial spacetime ripples could open the way for a physicist’s alternative theory
Making Astronomy Accessible for the Visually Impaired
A couple of years ago, one of my thesis mentors sought visually impaired scientists working at a major space science agency in the United States.
Physics Titan Still Thinks String Theory Is "On the Right Track"
At a 1990 conference on cosmology, I asked attendees, who included folks like Stephen Hawking, Michael Turner, James Peebles, Alan Guth and Andrei Linde, to nominate the smartest living physicist.
Gravitational Wave Discovery Looks Doubtful in New Analysis
The latest data from the Planck satellite suggest the highly touted finding of spacetime ripples may have been mistaken
Hubble Telescope Time Preferentially Goes to Men
An internal study finds that female-led proposals to use the in-demand device are less likely to be selected
Wanted by NASA: Space Telescope Director with Spy Credentials
The leader of the James Webb Space Telescope must have clearance that allows access to the highest level of classified information, according to a NASA want ad
Milky Way's Home Supercluster Found
Astronomers have identified the Milky Way’s cosmic address—inside the supercluster Laniakea, which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian. Clara Moskowitz reports
Book Review: The Edge of the Sky
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Interstellar Space Can Be Pebbly
We’re used to thinking of the space between the stars as void, bereft of all but the most sparsely distributed atoms and molecules, or the occasional microscopic grain of silicon or carbon dust.
Strange Neutrinos from the Sun Detected for the First Time
An underground neutrino detector has found particles produced by the fusion of two protons in the sun’s core