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.
UV Light Colors Great Red Spot
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is its particular crimson shade because of the interaction of ultraviolet light and specific chemical compounds in the gas giant's atmosphere. Lee Billings reports
Parsing the Science of Interstellar with Physicist Kip Thorne
In an earlier blog post about Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster movie, Interstellar, I lauded the film for its ambition, its visuals and the strong performances of its cast.
Lander Stable on Comet, for Now
The Philae lander settled atop the “head” of the rubber duck–shaped object despite trouble with systems designed to secure the probe to the comet
What "Interstellar" Gets Wrong about Interstellar Travel
Christopher Nolan’s new film, Interstellar, is a near-future tale of astronauts departing a dying Earth to travel to Saturn, then through a wormhole to another galaxy, all in search of somewhere else humanity could call home.
NASA's Plan to Visit an Asteroid Faces a Rocky Start
America's keystone human spaceflight mission for the next decade may be over before it begins
Comet Reeks of Cat Crap and Rotten Eggs
The Rosetta spacecraft has unexpectedly detected hydrogen sulphide and ammonia coming from Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Lee Billings reports
Rocket Explosion Prompts Doubts about Commercial Spaceflight
This week’s fiery failure of Orbital Sciences’s Antares rocket has some wondering if the company has the right stuff to support NASA’s goal to outsource orbital flights
Google Exec's Stratospheric Plunge Breaks World Record
This morning in Roswell, New Mexico, a spacesuit-clad 57-year-old Google executive, Alan Eustace, strapped into a harness beneath a giant helium balloon and lifted off to new heights in the upper stratosphere.
Hundreds of Comets Seen Orbiting Distant Solar System
The “exocomets” swarming around Beta Pictoris mirror those seen in our own solar system, but for a few surprising differences.
The Best Seat in the House for Sunday’s Comet Flyby Is Mars
Scientists and satellites gear up for a comet’s spectacular chance encounter with Mars
The Best Seat in the House for Sunday’s Comet Flyby Is Mars
Scientists and satellites gear up for a comet’s spectacular chance encounter with Mars
Time Travel Simulation Resolves “Grandfather Paradox”
What would happen to you if you went back in time and killed your grandfather? A model using photons reveals that quantum mechanics can solve the quandary—and even foil quantum cryptography
A New View of the Sky
Issue Editor Lee Billings introduces the “Secrets of the Universe” special edition
Astronomers Use Gravitational Lenses to Push Hubble Past Its Limits
To learn how the universe evolved over time, a space telescope gazes back to the earliest galaxies ever observed
Found in Space, Part 2
Journalist Lee Billings Talks about his book Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search For Life Among the Stars, Part 2 of 2
Found in Space, Part 1
Journalist Lee Billings Talks about his book Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search For Life Among the Stars, Part 1 of 2
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
The Perfect Theory: A Century of Geniuses and the Battle of General Relativity
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Astronomers Search for Moons Circling Distant Exoplanets
Moons orbiting distant exoplanets may account for most of the habitable locales in the galaxy. If only we could find them
Book Review: Oxygen
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Book Review: The Last Ocean
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Smart Phones as Thin as Credit Cards
Book Review: Beautiful Geometry
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Book Review: Tigers Forever
Books and recommendations from Scientific American