CosmologyAugust 19, 2025
The Universe Is Static. No, Expanding! Wait, Slowing? Oh, Accelerating
The universe has a habit of disproving “unassailable” facts
Stories by Richard Panek
Richard Panek is the prizewinning author of Pillars of Creation (Little, Brown, 2024).
CosmologyDecember 1, 2023
The Most Shocking Discovery in Astrophysics Is 25 Years Old
A quarter of a century after detecting dark energy, scientists are still trying to figure out what it is
AstronomyDecember 25, 2021
The James Webb Space Telescope Has Launched: Now Comes the Hard Part
After years of delay, the most ambitious observatory ever built has at last left Earth. It now faces a high-stakes series of deployments in deep space
Space & PhysicsMarch 1, 2020
How a Dispute over a Single Number Became a Cosmological Crisis
Two divergent measurements of how fast the universe is expanding cannot both be right. Something must give—but what?
OpinionOctober 17, 2019
Jim Peebles Richly Deserved His Nobel Prize
Even though, according to Alfred Nobel, he didn’t technically qualify
The SciencesAugust 15, 2019
Bridging a Binary Universe
Modern physicists continue to enshrine the split between the heavens and the earth perceived by our ancestors
Space & PhysicsDecember 29, 2016
Vera Rubin Didn't Discover Dark Matter
She wasn't even convinced it existed