Space & Physics

New laboratory studies could shed light on a rock containing potential signs of alien life that’s stranded on Mars

This week marks the last chance for backyard astronomers to see interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS before it races on its journey back to outer space

Whether space, health, technology or environment, here are the issues in science that the editors of Scientific American are focusing on for 2026

Celestial transients shine furiously and briefly. Astronomers are just beginning to understand them

New experiments show how RNA might form not just on Earth but on other rocky planets, too

Precisely calibrating clocks on Mars is harder than you’d think, because of some extremely esoteric physics

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft didn’t phone home as expected on December 6

An idea about the sun’s magnetic field called the terminator model could help predict dangerous space weather more accurately

NASA’s Perseverance rover has gathered groundbreaking Mars samples, but the mission to bring them home is facing serious challenges.

A major new study lays out plans for crewed missions to Mars, with the search for extraterrestrial life being a top priority

Astronomers have sighted the oldest known stellar explosion, dating back to when the universe was less than a billion years old

X-ray space telescopes caught a supermassive black hole flinging matter into space at a fifth of the speed of light