How a Space Rock Became a Scientific Breakthrough—And a Black Market Commodity
A massive Somali meteorite containing never-before-seen-on-Earth minerals vanished into the black market, raising ethical questions about science and ownership.
Have Astronomers Finally Found an Exomoon?
Data from the James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories suggests a supervolcanic exomoon may lurk around the giant exoplanet WASP-39b
The U.S. Won’t Win the New Space Race by Defunding NASA
The U.S. wants to remain a superpower in space. It can’t without supporting NASA
A Classic Graphic Reveals Nature’s Most Efficient Traveler
A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom
SpaceX’s Starship Succeeds in Final Test Flight of 2025
With the successful 11th test flight of its Starship megarocket, SpaceX is on the cusp of a new era in spaceflight
The Strange Saga of the Great Texas Space Shuttle Heist
Texas lawmakers want to move the Smithsonian’s retired space shuttle to Houston. It’s “a vanity project that is apt to destroy a near-priceless American treasure,” one historian says
Nobel Prizes, COVID Vaccine Updates and Malnutrition in Gaza
The CDC updates COVID vaccine guidance and stirs controversy over childhood immunizations. And global health experts warn of rising child malnutrition in Gaza.
How to See the Earth and Moon from Mars
If you pick the right time, our home world and our moon could be easily visible from the Red Planet
Birds Went Silent during the Great North American Eclipse—Here’s What Researchers Discovered
The “Great North American Eclipse” of April 2024 was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study how birds and other wildlife respond to total solar eclipses
How the Physics Nobel Recognized Quantum Weirdness and Avoided Hype
The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2025 honors scaled-up quantum physics—while sidestepping controversies swirling around quantum computing
After 30 Years of Discovery, These Are Astronomers’ Top Five Exoplanetary Systems
Space scientists look back on three decades of exoplanet discoveries—from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits
Chris Hadfield Imagines a Suspenseful Twist on Cold War History in His New Book
Astronaut-turned-author Chris Hadfield discusses his new thriller Final Orbit, which weaves real cold war history, space race geopolitics and firsthand experience into a gripping work of fiction.