History

Rippling red light emerges into a starry night sky from behind a hilly silhouette.

Solar systemApril 10, 2026

Medieval poets wrote about auroras. Their work is providing clues to the solar cycle

Medieval poets, including a Japanese noble, provided key descriptions to track down solar events

Jacek Krywko

The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission pose together for a photograph inside their Orion spacecraft

Space ExplorationApril 9, 2026

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

Lee Billings

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A deep-space view of Earth in crescent phase.

Space ExplorationApril 6, 2026

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

Lee Billings

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launches on a fiery pillar of exhaust surrounded by billowing clouds, sending the Orion crew capsule of the space agency’s Artemis II lunar mission into orbit.

Space ExplorationApril 1, 2026

NASA’s Artemis II launched on first crewed moon mission of the 21st century

A daring 10-day voyage took four astronauts on a loop around the moon and set the stage for future forays to the lunar surface

Nadia Drake

An illustration of a woman scientist in 19th century garb

ChemistryMarch 20, 2026

Agnes Pockels’ pioneering work was unfairly dismissed by tropes about women’s domestic roles

Agnes Pockels achievements in surface science have long been overshadowed by a popular and likely untrue story that she became interested in the subject while doing the dishes

Alexis Pedrick, Sophia Levin, The Lost Women of Science Initiative, Mariel Carr

A black-and-white photograph of a man standing in front of a blackboard holding a piece of chalk; a diagram of the Earth and moon is drawn on the blackboard.

Space ExplorationMarch 18, 2026

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

Lee Billings

HistoryMarch 17, 2026

April 2026: Science history from 50, 100 and 150 years ago

A quorum of quarks; asbestos surprises

Jeanna Bryner

An illustration of a woman scientist standing on a lit stage in front of a poster in a spotlight with other women scientists exiting the stage around her

TechnologyMarch 13, 2026

Why did the public forget Katharine Burr Blodgett’s brilliant legacy?

We trace the final chapter of Katharine Burr Blodgett’s career, her retirement from GE and her disappearance from public memory

Katie Hafner, Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Sophia Levin, Hannah Sammut, The Lost Women of Science Initiative

An illustration of a woman scientist peaking out of a door with an explosion of light emanating from behind her as other darkened doors with dark figures stand in doors in the hallway in front of her

TechnologyMarch 5, 2026

Katharine Burr Blodgett kept an inner struggle out of sight as she made history in the laboratory

At the height of her career, chemist and physicist Katharine Burr Blodgett faced challenges that not even her closest colleagues suspected

Katie Hafner, Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Sophia Levin, Hannah Sammut, The Lost Women of Science Initiative

A mural of a cosmonaut outside a spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. The mural is on a wall inside a delapidated stairwell.

AstronomyMarch 3, 2026

After four years of war, Ukrainian astronomy is battered but unbroken

Russia’s war has left many of Ukraine’s world-class observatories in ruins—but the besieged nation’s astronomers already have plans to rebuild and recover

Paul M. Sutter

An illustration of a woman scientist sitting at a window looking out amongst clouds and newspaper headlines

TechnologyFebruary 26, 2026

Katharine Burr Blodgett made a breakthrough when she discovered ‘invisible glass’

When Katharine Burr Blodgett discovered nonreflecting glass, the General Electric Company’s public relations machine made her a star

Katie Hafner, Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Sophia Levin, Hannah Sammut, The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Mammoth figurine bears multiple sequences of crosses and dots on its surface

ArchaeologyFebruary 23, 2026

Ancient art could hold clues to the origins of written language

Thousands of markings on objects made around 40,000 years ago may have been more than just doodles, a new analysis suggests

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

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