All Stories by Lisa Grossman
- Planetary Science
Europa Clipper has launched to solve an alien mystery
Launched October 14, the spacecraft will repeatedly buzz Europa in search of water, energy and organic compounds.
- Artificial Intelligence
The discovery of tools key to machine learning wins the 2024 physics Nobel
John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton used tools from physics to develop data analysis methods that underlie machine learning.
- Space
50 years ago, satellites threatened astronomers’ view of the cosmos
As satellite launches ramp up and the spacecraft clog the skies, astronomers fear for their data.
- Astronomy
Betelgeuse has a tiny companion star hidden in plain sight
Betelgeuse has a sequel — in the form of a companion star that's about the same mass as the sun, orbiting it about once every 2,100 days.
- Space
Meet Porphyrion, the largest pair of black hole jets ever seen
The two plasma fountains, spanning 23 million light-years, could shape cosmic structures far beyond their home galaxy.
- Space
How a dying star is similar to a lava lamp
In a first, astronomers captured how convective forces power the quick bubbling movement of gas cells on the surface of a distant, massive star.
- Planetary Science
Scientists find a long-sought electric field in Earth’s atmosphere
The Earth’s ambipolar electric field is weak but strong enough to control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere.
- Health & Medicine
What is ‘Stage 0’ breast cancer and how is it treated?
Actress Danielle Fishel's diagnosis has raised awareness of a condition that affects about 50,000 U.S. women annually.
- Space
The historic ‘Wow!’ signal may finally have a source. Sorry, it’s not aliens
One of the best possible signs of extraterrestrial communication may have an astrophysical explanation — albeit a weird one.
- Space
Astronauts actually get stuck in space all the time
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams join more than a dozen astronauts who’ve been stranded in space by mechanics, weather or geopolitics since the 1970s.
- Astronomy
Some meteors leave trails lasting up to an hour. Now we may know why
A new survey of meteors that leave persistent trails found that speed and brightness don’t matter as much as atmospheric chemistry.
- Space
Moonquakes are much more common than thought, Apollo data suggest
The discovery of 22,000 previously unseen moonquakes, plus a new idea of what causes them, could help us better prepare for trips there.
