Mysterious ultra-fast pinpricks of radio energy keep lighting up the night sky and nobody knows why. A newly discovered example of this transient phenomenon has been traced to its place … Read more
One of science’s most challenging problems is a question that can be stated easily: Where does consciousness come from? In his new book Galileo’s Error: Foundations for a New Science … Read more
The rocky planets closest to the sun are made up of very different materials than the gas giants in the outer solar system. That’s because billions of years ago, our … Read more
If we discovered evidence of alien life, would we even realize it? Life on other planets could be so different from what we’re used to that we might not recognize … Read more
What if I told you that our universe was flooded with hundreds of kinds of nearly invisible particles and that, long ago, these particles formed a network of universe-spanning strings? … Read more
Despite the apparent shrinkage of clouds in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the storm itself is still going strong, new research suggests. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot represents the most powerful storm … Read more
A few months ago, a group of NASA exoplanet astronomers, who are in the business of discovering planets around other stars, called me into a secret meeting to tell me … Read more
Cool cats, we’ve entered a new decade and I’m on the edge of my seat about it. The 2010’s were a circus for me, personally and publicly and politically, a … Read more
Look closely at the serpent constellation slithering through the northern sky, and you might see a galaxy within a galaxy within a galaxy. This cosmic turducken is known as Hoag’s … Read more
As the 2010s come to a close, it’s time to revisit how some of the biggest space science stories shaped the decade. From the rise of TESS to flybys of … Read more