Large Hadron Collider Turns Up the Heat in Higgs Hunt
Europe’s Large Hadron Collider, already the most powerful particle collider in history—and by a wide margin at that—is about to break its own record.
Stories by John Matson
Space
Obama Administration Proposes Big Cuts to NASA's Mars Programs
NASA just released its presidential budget request for 2013 and, as expected, the space agency's planetary science program takes a big hit. The budget document (summary pdf) is merely the first volley in an often drawn-out exchange between the White House and Congress, but still sets the general direction for the space program...
Space
Red Sea: Sounding Radar Buoys Evidence Mars Once Had an Ocean
The Red Planet looks to have been home to a large body of water billions of years ago
Space
Hunter's Moons: Astronomers Use Kepler Spacecraft to Search for Exomoons
There may be Earth-size satellites orbiting exoplanets that can be detected using Kepler data. But where the HEK are they?
The Sciences
Life after Tevatron: Fermilab Still Kicking Even Though It Is No Longer Top Gun
Fermilab is dead. Long live Fermilab!The Tevatron at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., which had been the top U.S. particle collider—and for many years the most powerful such machine in the world—shut down last September...
Space
Primitive Attraction: Magnetized Moon Rock Points to Lunar Core's Active Past
A lunar sample collected by Apollo astronauts suggests that other-Earthly geophysics drove the moon's churning interior
Space
Newt to NASA: Stop Talking about Space Exploration-Just Do It
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich made a campaign stop on Florida's Space Coast January 25, laying out a vision for NASA that included a manned moon base within a decade.The former speaker of the House, who topped our rankings of the candidates in terms of geek cred, wasted no time in trotting out his space bona fides...
Sustainability
Largest Solar Storm Since 2005 to Hit Earth Tuesday
Last night the sun unleashed a flash of radiation called a solar flare, along with a generous belch of ionized matter that is now racing toward Earth at thousands of kilometers a second...
Space
Should the U.S. Collaborate with China in Space?
During the cold war the U.S. found ways to work with the Soviet Union on space missions
Space
Solar Swan Song: NASA Satellite Witnesses a Comet's Plunge into the Sun
A sun-watching spacecraft has for the first time tracked a comet's path all the way into the solar atmosphere
The Sciences
The Not-So-Hot Hand
Pro basketball players are much more likely to try another three-point shot after making one than after missing one
The Sciences
In Sync, on a Quantum Level
Physicists make two diamonds vibrate as one
Space
Why Did So Much High-Profile Junk Fall from Space Last Year?
Orbital debris hits Earth daily, but NASA says not to worry
Space
A Plenitude of Planets: Galactic Search Finds Exoplanets Are More Commonplace Than Stars
The ubiquity of extrasolar planets, and of relatively small worlds in particular, bodes well for searches for life-friendly Earth twins
Sustainability
How to Buy a Better Lightbulb
The U.S. is phasing out energy-hog lightbulbs in January. How do the alternatives stack up?
Tech
Ohm Run: One-Atom-Tall Wires Could Extend Life of Moore's Law
New finding could help circuits keep shrinking
Engineering
Time Cloak Hides Very Brief Events
For years physicists have been refining invisibility cloaks—physical setups that cleverly reroute light around a region in space, effectively concealing any object that might be inside...
Our Galaxy's "Big Ears": Milky Way's Large Companion Galaxies Stand Out
The Milky Way seems to have too few galactic hangers-on, except when it comes to the big ones. What gives?
The Sciences
Newfound Gas Cloud Points to Possible Planets Near the Milky Way's Black Hole
Times are tough on planet Earth right now, but at least we don't have a supermassive black hole lurking just over the horizon.A new study suggests that stars near the Milky Way's central black hole may well form planets...
Space
It's a Small World: Kepler Spacecraft Discovers First Known Earth-Size Exoplanets
NASA's planet-hunting observatory claims its smallest two finds yet, but neither looks hospitable to life
