Lee Billings is a science journalist specializing in astronomy, physics, planetary science, and spaceflight and is senior desk editor for physical science at Scientific American. He is author of a critically acclaimed book, Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars, which in 2014 won a Science Communication Award from the American Institute of Physics. In addition to his work for Scientific American, Billings’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Wired, New Scientist, Popular Science and many other publications. Billings joined Scientific American in 2014 and previously worked as a staff editor at SEED magazine. He holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Minnesota.
This baby galaxy is a ‘missing link’ in the quest to glimpse the universe’s first stars
Seen just 800 million years after the big bang, an object called LAP1-B is a galactic building block that seems to hold some of the first stars to ever shine
Nuclear war may keep humanity from finding a ‘theory of everything,’ top physicist says
After winning a Breakthrough Prize, the world’s most lucrative science award, theoretical physicist David Gross is using the moment to warn of nuclear war’s existential threat—and how we can escape it
Alien comet reveals our solar system is the oddball
Measurements of this interstellar comet’s molecular makeup show an excess of heavy water molecules that is dramatically different from anything known to have ever formed around our sun
Secrets of cosmic evolution may lurk in this black hole’s ‘dancing’ jets
A first-of-its-kind observation shows how jets from voracious black holes can shape the growth of galaxies
Artemis proves NASA can return to the moon. Now comes the hard question: Why?
Artemis II’s safe return from lunar orbit sparks a debate over the costs, climate effects and long‑term value of going back to the moon
Artemis II reveals why humans still love the moon
The triumph of NASA’s first crewed lunar mission in a half-century is a reminder of what the moon really means for Earth—and why we’re going back
NASA’s Artemis II moon mission preps for its last full day in space
The moon is now far in the rearview after a near-flawless spaceflight, but the crew of Artemis II aren’t home safe yet
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts celebrate epic lunar flyby with stunning new images
Artemis II’s sixth day was a whirlwind of science and awe, with the mission’s astronauts glimpsing parts of the moon never before seen by any human—and talking to the U.S. president
Trump speaks with NASA’s Artemis II astronauts after historic moon flyby
On Monday night, the U.S. president called the crew aboard the Orion spacecraft to congratulate them on their moon mission
NASA’s Artemis II mission nears its historic lunar flyby
The fifth day in space for Artemis II saw space suit tests, an Easter egg hunt and final preparations for an imminent close encounter with the moon
NASA’s Artemis II mission sends astronauts—and an upgraded space toilet—around the moon
Artemis II blasts off on a high‑stakes lunar flyby, marking NASA’s first crewed mission to the moon in decades
Nuclear spaceflight, Iran war’s emissions crisis and a strong Lyme vaccine trial result
NASA’s nuclear Mars mission, the Iran war’s carbon fallout, the looming climate cost of rebuilding and a hopeful new Lyme vaccine
Modern rocketry turns 100—and NASA says the best is yet to come
A century after Robert Goddard’s first-ever launch of a liquid-fueled rocket, two NASA experts weigh in on what his legacy still holds for spaceflight’s future
How to build a moon base
China and the U.S. are in a high-stakes race to build permanent lunar outposts. Can both nations coexist on the moon?
Is this where China’s astronauts will land on the moon?
An obscure lunar region called Rimae Bode is emerging as a high-priority landing site for China’s first crewed moon mission
‘Conan the Bacterium’ could really conquer the solar system, new study suggests
New insights into a tiny, tough microbe have huge implications for the search for life beyond Earth
See the rosy glow of Uranus in its full 3D glory
Fresh observations from the James Webb Space Telescope show how vivid auroras surge through Uranus’s tilted magnetic field
Desert dino find, flu shot U‑turn, universal vaxx hope, air toxin warning
A surprising FDA reversal on Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine, early promise from a universal inhaled vaccine, and a desert fossil find that is reshaping spinosaurid history.
Trump’s order to release evidence for aliens obscures the scientific search for extraterrestrial life
On Thursday the U.S. president ordered the release of federal files related to UFOs and aliens, although no evidence of extraterrestrials visiting Earth is known to exist
This vanished star may mark a ‘failed supernova’—and a newborn black hole
A “disappearing” star in the Andromeda galaxy is the closest and best candidate for a newborn black hole that astronomers have ever seen
‘Baby cluster’ of galaxies may challenge cosmic models
Dating to only a billion years after the big bang, JADES-ID1 may be the earliest, most distant galaxy protocluster astronomers have ever seen
NASA gears up for a historic lunar flyby, AI gives stroke patients hope, and researchers discover the oldest known cave art
What’s on the road to the launch of NASA’s Artemis II, how scientists are using artificial intelligence to help stroke patients speak, and what an Indonesian cave art discovery says about early human migration
Sonic booms can protect Earth from dangerous space junk
Scientists are using technology developed to study earthquakes to address an out-of-this-world risk
NASA’s historic Artemis II moon mission is almost ready to launch
On Friday NASA laid out the time line for Artemis II, humanity’s first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years