Space & PhysicsMarch 9, 2011
Space shuttle Discovery lands in Florida, capping its 39th and final mission
Stories by John Matson
John Matson is a former reporter and editor for Scientific American who has written extensively about astronomy and physics.
Space & PhysicsMarch 8, 2011
Earthbound: Suitors Await News on Space Shuttle Discovery's Future Home
When Discovery touches down, it will become the first of NASA's three remaining space shuttles to enter retirement. Where will they all end up?
Space & PhysicsMarch 4, 2011
Raze of Glory: NASA Earth-Observing Climate Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit
A launch malfunction sent the Glory satellite crashing into the ocean, almost exactly mimicking the 2009 loss of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory
Space & PhysicsMarch 3, 2011
Minimum to the Max: Shifting Solar Plasma Could Account for Sun's Recent Slumber
A new model for the sun's inner workings may help explain the most recent solar minimum, when sunspots all but disappeared for an unusually long time
Space & PhysicsMarch 3, 2011
U.S. Air Force robotic space plane set for second long-duration flight
Space & PhysicsMarch 1, 2011
Feeling the Heat
Short-lived fountains of plasma may explain why the sun's outer atmosphere is hotter than its surface
Space & PhysicsMarch 1, 2011
Scrivener to the Stars: Keeping Tabs on All the Exoplanets
A Parisian astronomer tells how he became the unofficial record keeper of exoplanets and when we'll stop discovering new ones
Space & PhysicsFebruary 28, 2011
Ammonia from meteorites could have aided start of life on Earth
February 21, 2011
Budget crunch could prematurely shutter Tevatron
Space & PhysicsFebruary 18, 2011
Some supermassive black holes may not be so super after all
The SciencesFebruary 18, 2011
Beam Bagged: "Reverse Laser" Functions as Near-Perfect Light Absorber
Physicists have constructed a sort of anti-laser, a silicon device that turns very specific kinds of light into energy
Space & PhysicsFebruary 14, 2011
Twisted Light Could Enable Black Hole Detection
Rotating black holes should put a spin on the light passing by them, potentially allowing astronomers a new way to gauge their properties
Space & PhysicsFebruary 11, 2011
NASA's Stardust spacecraft closes in for a Valentine's Day rendezvous with Comet Tempel 1
Space & PhysicsFebruary 10, 2011
Record-setting "near miss" of Earth dramatically shifted tiny asteroid's orbit
The SciencesFebruary 9, 2011
Scaled-Down Success: Programmable Logic Tiles Could Form Basis of Nanoprocessors
Tiny circuits assembled from nanowire transistors may someday challenge traditional microchips for small-scale processing tasks
Space & PhysicsFebruary 9, 2011
NASA's scrapped Ares 1 rocket could be resurrected for commercial spaceflight
Space & PhysicsFebruary 7, 2011
STEREO spacecraft peek at both sides of the sun at once
February 7, 2011
Opposite Spins: The LHC Accelerates Higgs Search as the U.S. Shutters Its Tevatron
Europe's Large Hadron Collider is extending its unprecedented experimental run as the U.S. prepares for a disappointing shutdown of its marquee collider
Space & PhysicsFebruary 4, 2011
Rep. Giffords's husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, plans to command April space shuttle flight
Space & PhysicsFebruary 2, 2011
A Wealth of Worlds: Kepler Spacecraft Finds 6 New Exoplanets and Hints at 1,200 More
A newfound planetary system has six worlds, five of which rank among the smallest known, and the list of unconfirmed candidates has swelled to four figures
HealthFebruary 1, 2011
Retired NFL players more likely than others to misuse prescription painkillers
Space & PhysicsFebruary 1, 2011
Where's Saturn? Cassini Spacecraft Helping Provide More Accurate Planetary Coordinates
Astronomers are using the Cassini probe as a distant radio beacon to better pin down the orbit of the giant planet
Space & PhysicsJanuary 27, 2011
Crew of 520-day mock Mars mission nears mock landing
Space & PhysicsJanuary 27, 2011
NASA memorials mark 25th anniversary of Challenger disaster