Climate Change
Pangaea Ultima, the Next Supercontinent, May Doom Mammals to Far-Future Extinction
250 million years from now, the emergence of a new supercontinent could render most of Earth’s surface uninhabitable for mammals
Stories by Jonathan O'Callaghan
Astrophysics
This Bizarre Star Could Become One of the Strongest Magnets in the Universe
Magnetars possess magnetic fields that are trillions of times stronger than those of ordinary stars. Now we might have seen one of these extraordinary objects about to form
Space Exploration
Russia Launches First Moon Mission after Half-Century Hiatus
The Luna 25 spacecraft will attempt to land at the lunar south pole for the first time in a hunt for valuable water ice
Astrophysics
A Background ‘Hum’ Pervades the Universe. Scientists Are Racing to Find Its Source
Astronomers are now seeking to pinpoint the origins of an exciting new form of gravitational waves that was announced earlier this year
Astrophysics
Nearby Supernova Gives Unique View of a Dying Star’s Last Days
Astronomers are piecing together the final moments of supernova 2023ixf and learning more about it than any other in recent history
Dark Energy
Europe’s Euclid Space Telescope Is Launching a New Era in Studies of the ‘Dark Universe’
The Euclid mission will probe dark energy and dark matter like never before, setting the stage for an international, multiobservatory push to solve some of the universe’s deepest mysteries...
Astronomy
At Last, Astronomers May Have Seen the Universe’s First Stars
Telltale evidence gathered by the James Webb Space Telescope suggests we’re closer than ever before to finding elusive Population III stars
Astronomy
JWST Will Hunt for Dead Solar Systems—And Much More—In Its Second Year of Science
White dwarfs, Earth-sized exoplanets, early galaxies and even Saturn’s moon Enceladus are on the agenda for JWST’s second year in space, but exomoons and others miss out
Cosmology
Mirror-Image Supernova Yields Surprising Estimate of Cosmic Growth
A new way to gauge the universe’s expansion rate has delivered a confusing result that may conflict with previous related measurements
Planetary Science
Where Did Mars’s Moons Come From?
New results from a U.A.E. orbiter suggest Mars’s moons may be pieces of the planet. A Japanese mission will tell us for sure
Astronomy
JWST’s Newfound Galaxies Are the Oldest Ever Seen
We now know that the first galaxies in our universe formed shockingly fast, thanks to the latest results from the James Webb Space Telescope
Planetary Science
NASA’s Perseverance Rover May Already Have Evidence of Ancient Martian Life
A half-kilogram’s worth of samples gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover for eventual return to Earth holds weighty implications for life on Mars
Extraterrestrial Life
At Jupiter, JUICE and Clipper Will Work Together in Hunt for Life
A new European mission is the first of two spacecraft—with the other coming from NASA—that will hunt for signs of habitability on Jupiter’s icy moons
Materials Science
Scientists Made a New Kind Of Ice That Might Exist on Distant Moons
The “amorphous” solid is denser and could be water “frozen in time”
Astronomy
JWST Heralds a New Dawn for Exoplanet Science
The James Webb Space Telescope is opening an exciting new chapter in the study of exoplanets and the search for life beyond Earth
Space Exploration
NASA’s Pluto Spacecraft Begins New Mission at the Solar System’s Edge
New Horizons is about to wake up and study the Kuiper Belt, the universe, and even Uranus and Neptune. But a new target to visit could trump them all
Cosmology
Astronomers Grapple with JWST’s Discovery of Early Galaxies
Researchers are convinced the James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed an unexpected population of galaxies in the early universe. Now they’re trying to decide what this means for our understanding of the cosmos...
Astronomy
Satellite Constellations Could Harm the Environment, New Watchdog Report Says
Elon Musk’s Starlink and other satellite sources of light pollution and orbital debris should face an environmental review, the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds
Planetary Science
NASA’s DART Spacecraft Successfully Smacks a Space Rock—Now What?
The DART spacecraft has purposefully crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos, hopefully changing its orbit by a few minutes, in a milestone test of future planetary defense techniques
Space Exploration
The FCC Is Finally Taking Space Junk Seriously
A new potential rule from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission would set a five-year deadline for defunct satellites to be removed from space
