Alien Yet Familiar: Following Curiosity Across Mars
822 Martian days after landing, NASA’s Curiosity rover, carrying the Mars Science Laboratory, continues on its extraordinary journey across landscapes that are both utterly alien, and remarkably familiar.
Mars' First Close-up
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Mariner IV spacecraft (November 28, 1964). In total, the mission gave us 21 complete images of Mars, including this, our first close view of the planet—courtesy of data transmitted by the interplanetary probe and earth-bound scientists wielding pastels (below).
U.S. Particle Physics Program Aims for the Future
In the last few years, stories have abounded in the press of the successes of the Large Hadron Collider, most notably the discovery of the Higgs boson.
Physics Week in Review: November 22, 2014
Here’s a disquieting thought for your weekend: Dark Energy Might Be Stealing the Glue Holding the Universe Together. A new invisibility cloak simultaneously works for heat flow and electrical current.
Are Scientists on the Cusp of Knowing How Weird We Are?
I’m writing this post for two reasons. One is to recommend a new book by Columbia astrobiologist Caleb Scharf (who also writes a terrific Scientific American blog, “Life, Unbounded“), and the other is to defend an old book of mine.
Neutrinos on Ice: How to Build a Balloon
Editor's Note: Welcome to ANITA, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna! From October to December, Katie Mulrey is traveling with the ANITA collaboration to Antarctica to build and launch ANITA III, a scientific balloon that uses the entire continent of Antarctica for neutrino and cosmic ray detection.
Meteorite Bears Evidence of Magnetic Fields in Early Solar System
New research shows that magnetic fields played a role in the solar system's formation
That Comet? That's You, 4.5 Billion Years Ago
As the European Space Agency’s Philae lander bounced and settled onto the surface of comet 67P/C-G’s crumbly nucleus it wasn’t just space exploration, it was time travel.
The Human Cost of Science: Stephen Hawking and The Theory of Everything
Stephen Hawking is one of our greatest living geniuses—his insights into the nature of black holes, space and time have truly revolutionized physics.
"We Are on the Comet!"
Some sounds from the Rosetta Mission team today after they succeeded in landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Steve Mirsky reports
A High-Flying Web May Catch the Beginning of Time
This winter an airborne experiment named Spider will probe the earliest remnants of the universe
Young Earth May Have Been All Wet
Because the chemical signature of water on Earth matches the signature of water in an ancient group of asteroids called eucrites, it means that Earth might have had water much earlier than previously thought. Julia Rosen reports