Twilight is closing in on NASA’s Mars InSight lander — a robotic seismology lab that has been studying the interior workings of the Red Planet since November 2018. On Tuesday (Dec. 20), NASA announced in a statement (opens in new tab) that InSight failed to respond to routine communications from Earth. This is an alarming, … Read more
The winter solstice heralds the astronomical start of winter and marks the day with the fewest hours of daylight for the year. But what’s the science behind the shortest day and longest night? The winter solstice — and for that matter, the four seasons — occur because Earth is tilted at an angle of about … Read more
The oldest known writing dates back more than 5,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, in what is now mostly present-day Iraq. But who was the first author known by name? Archaeological discoveries have revealed the earliest known writing was invented about 3400 B.C. in an ancient Mesopotamian area known as Sumer, near the Persian Gulf, according … Read more
A new method of artificial photosynthesis could get humans one step closer to using the machinery of plants to make fuels. The new system is 10 times more efficient than previous synthetic photosynthesis methods. While natural photosynthesis allows plants to turn carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into carbohydrates using the power of the sun, the … Read more
Scientists have just announced a breakthrough in nuclear fusion ignition: For the first time the heart of a powerful fusion reactor has briefly generated more energy than was put into it. But experts are urging caution, saying that the breakthrough, while hugely significant, is still a long way from safe, limitless nuclear energy. On Tuesday (Dec. 13), physicists at … Read more
Crop circles are a very straightforward phenomenon: They are a type of landscape art made by humans. Despite evidence to the contrary, some people remain convinced that crop circles were made by aliens brought by UFOs. But how did unidentified flying objects come to be linked with flattened expanses of cereal grains? And why have … Read more
The universe may seem shapeless because it is so vast, but it does have a form that astronomers can observe. So, what is it shaped like? Physicists think the universe is flat. Several lines of evidence point to this flat universe: light left over from the Big Bang, the rate of expansion of the universe … Read more
A man who developed paralysis and lost his ability to speak following a stroke can now communicate using a system that translates his brain’s electrical signals into individual letters, allowing him to craft whole words and sentences in real time. To use the device, which receives signals from electrodes implanted in his brain, the man … Read more
If extraterrestrial life sent us a message tomorrow, how would humanity respond? According to researchers, we don’t know yet — and that’s a problem. That’s why, for the first time in 35 years, a team of policy experts and scientists have united to establish a set of alien-contact protocols for the entire world to follow … Read more
Scattered across the vacuum of space are stars, galaxies, stellar remnants and other objects that are billions upon billions of years old. The age of the universe is now thought to be about 13.8 billion years — almost unfathomable. But how do we know that? We can determine the age of the universe (to an … Read more
