Astronomers puzzle over early origins of mysterious ‘red monster’ galaxy
Researchers are perplexed by a galaxy that seems too large and too dusty for its place in cosmic history, less than a half-billion years after the big bang
What’s faster than light? Darkness
A recent experiment revealed that individual dark points on a light wave can move faster than the wave itself
How Star Trek, Missy Elliott and queer theory help explain the deepest questions in physics
A physicist explores how poetry, pop culture and imagination help us understand spacetime and our place in the universe
NASA chief Jared Isaacman hints at campaign to make Pluto a planet again
The NASA administrator’s latest remarks in support of reexamining Pluto’s status come 20 years after the orb was downgraded to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union
Nuclear war may keep humanity from finding a ‘theory of everything,’ top physicist says
After winning a Breakthrough Prize, the world’s most lucrative science award, theoretical physicist David Gross is using the moment to warn of nuclear war’s existential threat—and how we can escape it
See Astrobotic pull off a major test of its ‘ring of fire’ rocket engine
Rotating detonation rocket engines work differently than traditional rockets to maximize thrust while using less fuel—an advantage that could help spacecraft explore farther in the solar system
See the iconic Sombrero Galaxy in stunning new images that reveal its enormous glowing halo
This galaxy, also known as Messier 104, gets its nickname from its central bulge and outer dust trail, which give it a sombrerolike appearance from our vantage point
Organic molecules on Mars, good news about suicide hotline, the AI voice clone advantage
What NASA’s Curiosity Rover found on Mars, how youth suicides dropped after the launch of the 988 crisis line, and what people think of AI voice clones
One scientist’s 10-year quest to calculate the strength of gravity
Earth’s gravitational force, g, has been known for centuries. But the exact value of G, the universal gravitational constant, is elusive
Buckyballs and a cosmic question mark stun in new JWST imagery of a planetary nebula
New James Webb Space Telescope images could shed fresh light on how dying stars evolve over time
Death by primordial black hole is hard to come by
Subatomic black holes from ancient cosmic history could, in principle, make you have a very bad day. But chances are you’ll never encounter one
Why is it so hard to make a working toilet fit for space travel?
The space environment—microgravity, extreme temperatures and more—make it near-impossible to truly test a space toilet like Artemis II's ahead of launch, experts say