Clara Moskowitz is chief of reporters at Scientific American, where she covers astronomy, space, physics and mathematics. She has been at Scientific American for more than a decade; previously she worked at Space.com. Moskowitz has reported live from rocket launches, space shuttle liftoffs and landings, suborbital spaceflight training, mountaintop observatories, and more. She has a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University and a graduate degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
5 Unanswered Questions that Will Keep Physicists Awake at Night
Physics is all about probing the most fundamental mysteries in nature, so it’s no surprise that physicists have some very basic questions about the universe on their minds.
Physicists Euphoric but Confused about Black Hole Paradox
The recently proposed idea of “black hole firewalls” has physicists questioning some of their most cherished ideas
Leading Dark Energy Theory Incompatible with New Measurement
The latest observations of exploding stars could call into question the cosmological constant explanation of dark energy
Tying Light in Knots [Slide Show]
Newfound solutions to Maxwell’s electromagnetism equations show light can get as tangled as a sailor’s rope
Milky Way’s Tiny Satellite Galaxies May Help Solve Dark Matter Mystery
Hubble observations of the smallest galaxies known help explain why so few of them exist
Pulverized Asteroid around Distant Star Was Full of Water
The first discovery of a rocky, watery object beyond our solar system shows how planets might get their oceans
New “Magic Number” inside Atoms Discovered
At the frontiers of high-energy physics, picking “34” is like hitting the lottery
The Cosmos Is Cracked
A computer simulation of the universe shows that it may be filled with “defects in spacetime”
Higgs Boson Predictors Awarded the 2013 Nobel Physics Prize
Two scientists who predicted how particles gain mass shared the prestigious award, now that Large Hadron Collider experiments have confirmed the theory
Flights of Fancy: Virgin Galactic Plans Space Hotels, Day Trips to the Moon
The suborbital space firm has audacious plans for orbit, although experts debate their current feasibility
Particles and the People Who Love Them: Documentary Shows Human Side of Large Hadron Collider
Full disclosure: I cried at a movie about particle physics. And I wasn’t alone. As the film showed footage of the July 4, 2012 announcement of the Higgs boson discovery, I noticed the woman next to me wiping her eyes just as I was doing the same.
Gravity’s Astronaut Describes the Trials of Space
Although the life-threatening situation Gravity depicts is fictional, the new film faithfully captures the beauty of orbit, says a former space station crew member
Center of Attention: Space Telescope May Hone in on Heart of the Milky Way in Hunt for Dark Matter
The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope team is considering a new observing strategy that would focus on the center of the galaxy
Cache and Not Carry: Next Mars Rover to Collect Samples for Return to Earth—Someday
NASA calls for rover instrument proposals, but some resent the space lost to storage of samples for retrieval by an unspecified future mission
Why Friction Is a Drag: New Findings
Friction is both the boon and the bane of our everyday lives. It’s the force that drags against your car’s tires, making you use more gas to keep going.
Kepler Space Telescope's Broken Wheel Could Aid Stellar Physics
Although a broken reaction wheel on NASA's Kepler spacecraft is bad news for its primary exoplanet-hunting mission, the glitch could be a boon for the study of stellar physics
Puzzling Measurement of "Big G" Gravitational Constant Ignites Debate [Slide Show]
Despite dozens of measurements over more than 200 years, we still don’t know how strong gravity is
Voyager 1 Finally Leaves Solar System—for Real This Time
After much debate over the murky boundary of interstellar space, a solar eruption gives scientists the evidence to say Voyager 1 has finally crossed it
Scientists to Discuss Universe's Strange Dense Spot Wednesday: Watch Live
The big bang should have distributed matter evenly throughout the universe. So why is there a big dense spot?
Russian Rocket Crash Details Revealed
An unmanned rocket carrying $200 million in satellite technology likely crashed due to an emergency booster shutdown
NASA's Grand Challenge: Stop Asteroids from Destroying Earth
NASA reaches out to the public for ideas on how to prevent dangerous asteroid impacts
New Telescope Strategy Could Resolve Dark Matter Mystery
A call for NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope to focus on the center of the galaxy could clear up the identity of dark matter
Physicists Find Way to Measure Earth's Rarest Element
Using a machine that creates beams of radioactive atomic nuclei, CERN physicists found the ionization potential of astatine
First Photo of Alien Planet Forming Snapped by Telescope
A Jupiter-like gas giant, 335 light-years from Earth, is caught in the process of formation by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile