Space & PhysicsJune 29, 2018
At Asteroid Ryugu, Japan's Hayabusa 2 Spacecraft Preps for Exploration
The probe will map the surface, deploy rovers and collect pristine samples that could contain clues about the origins of life on Earth
Stories by Elizabeth Tasker
Elizabeth Tasker is an Associate Professor at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), where her research focuses on building stars and planets inside computers. She is the author of the popular science book, 'The Planet Factory', which was published last year. Elizabeth can be followed on twitter talking about exoplanets and life in Japan @girlandkat.
Space & PhysicsAugust 16, 2017
Let's Lose the Term "Habitable Zone" for Exoplanets
It’s completely unclear whether conditions on these distant worlds are favorable for life, so we need different terminology
Space & PhysicsNovember 10, 2016
Did the Seeds of Life Come from Space?
Meteorites might have delivered some of the basic building blocks, but there are still some missing pieces to the puzzle
Space & PhysicsAugust 26, 2016
Yes, We've Discovered a Planet Orbiting the Nearest Star but...
...let's not lose our minds
Space & PhysicsJune 16, 2016
What Killed Japan's Hitomi X-Ray Satellite?
It wasn't a meteorite or a piece of space junk, says a major report—it was human error on multiple levels
The SciencesJanuary 12, 2016
The Waves No One Can Find
Gravitational waves rippling through the cosmos, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein's General Relativity, have eluded detection so far—but physicists aren't giving up
Space & PhysicsOctober 1, 2015
Decoding the Star Charts of Ancient Egypt
Mysterious tables of astronomical information have been found in 4,000-year-old coffins. What in the world was their purpose?
August 19, 2013
The search for answers beneath the bottom of the sea
“Imagine standing on the roof of a three storey building and lowering the lead of a mechanical pencil so that it hits the center of a coin sitting on the ground.