Predictions for the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics
Excitement is building — at least in science circles — for the upcoming announcements of the 2014 Nobel Prizes, along with the inevitable speculation about who might be among this year’s winners.
Interstellar Environments May Breed Complex Organic Molecules
If biologically important organic molecules like amino acids could form in interstellar space, the implications would be enormous. On the Earth we find plenty of amino acid species inside certain types of meteorites, so at a minimum these compounds can form during the assembly of a proto-stellar, proto-planetary system (at least this one) and end [...]
Two New Arrivals Send Back Pictures Of Mars
The skies of Mars just got a little more crowded. On September 21st, 2014 NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) fired its engines for some 33 minutes in order to swing into a safe orbit.
Betting Against Gravitational Waves: Q&A with Cosmologist Neil Turok
Failure to discover primordial spacetime ripples could open the way for a physicist’s alternative theory
Making Astronomy Accessible for the Visually Impaired
A couple of years ago, one of my thesis mentors sought visually impaired scientists working at a major space science agency in the United States.
Physics Titan Still Thinks String Theory Is "On the Right Track"
At a 1990 conference on cosmology, I asked attendees, who included folks like Stephen Hawking, Michael Turner, James Peebles, Alan Guth and Andrei Linde, to nominate the smartest living physicist.
Gravitational Wave Discovery Looks Doubtful in New Analysis
The latest data from the Planck satellite suggest the highly touted finding of spacetime ripples may have been mistaken
Milky Way's Home Supercluster Found
Astronomers have identified the Milky Way’s cosmic address—inside the supercluster Laniakea, which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian. Clara Moskowitz reports
Book Review: The Edge of the Sky
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
How the Iconic Pillars of Creation Arose
A new simulation could change the way astronomers think about O-stars
Controversy Erupts over Distance to Pleiades Star Cluster
New measurement points to possible error in ESA survey that could also affect the agency's new Gaia mission
Interstellar Space Can Be Pebbly
We’re used to thinking of the space between the stars as void, bereft of all but the most sparsely distributed atoms and molecules, or the occasional microscopic grain of silicon or carbon dust.