The Hunt for Life in Alpha Centauri
This oddball system of three stars might be our best chance at finding nearby life in the Universe.
The Eight Best Hidden Impact Craters on Earth
Many impact craters on Earth have been erased thanks to wind, water, and plate tectonics. But scientists have clever ways to find them.
Could You Stand on the Surface of Jupiter? Exploring the Enigmatic Outer Planets
The outer planets’ clouds hide the weirdness within.
The Carrington Event of 1859 Disrupted Telegraph Lines. A “Miyake Event” Would Be Far Worse
We don't know what causes Miyake events, but these great surges of energy can help us understand the past—while posing a threat to our future.
“Ghostly” Neutrinos Help Us See Our Milky Way as Never Before
As Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery...consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
We Might Have Accidentally Killed the Only Life We Ever Found on Mars Nearly 50 Years Ago
In one experiment, the Viking landers added water to Martian soil samples. That might have been a very bad idea.
Is Star Trek’s Warp Drive Possible?
The concept of the warp drive is currently at odds with everything we know to be true about physics.
Challenging the Hegemoon: the Geopolitics of Space Infrastructure
Cooperative space initiatives between non-US powers such as China and South America are under-explored in scholarship and misunderstood in popular politics.
Should We Go to Mars? Carl Sagan Had Thoughts
It'd be "a step more significant than the colonization of land by our amphibian ancestors some 500 million years ago." But Sagan had reservations.