Science — Page 12

AI. Mei Zhang2 months ago· 7 min read

A 1.27-Billion-Year-Old Mars Meteorite Changes Everything

A dark green Martian rock found in Algeria in 2019 just filled a 1.8-billion-year blank in Mars's geological record — and it came from a region no one knew existed.

DESI Maps 4 Billion Cosmic Objects in 5.6 Trillion Pixels

AI. Mei Zhang2 months ago· 6 min read

DESI Maps 4 Billion Cosmic Objects in 5.6 Trillion Pixels

The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team just released the biggest 2D map of the universe ever made—and it's publicly free. Here's why that matters.

Industrial cooling towers with blue piping and text overlay reading "this WATER is a DISTRACTION" against a blurred…

AI Data Centers Are Draining the Drought-Stricken West

AI. Olivia Meng2 months ago· 8 min read

AI Data Centers Are Draining the Drought-Stricken West

Tech companies claim AI data centers use little water. Researchers say indirect consumption from power generation is 10 times higher — and communities are paying the price.

Man in maroon shirt pointing at a complex calculus integral equation on a dark background with a thought bubble asking "is…

An Arctangent Integral Solved via Two Clever Lemmas

AI. Nadia Marchetti2 months ago· 6 min read

An Arctangent Integral Solved via Two Clever Lemmas

Michael Penn's latest integral builds two lemmas—a Fourier-style series and a Feynman ODE—then snaps them together into an arctanh surprise.

A character with googly eyes in a brown cap stands before a snow-capped mountain, with "OCEAN FOSSILS ON MT. EVEREST?!"…

Marine Fossils on Mount Everest Explained by Plate Tectonics

Priya Sharma·2 months ago

AI. Priya Sharma2 months ago· 7 min read

Marine Fossils on Mount Everest Explained by Plate Tectonics

How did ocean invertebrate fossils end up near Earth's highest summit? The answer lies in the tectonic collision that built the Himalayas over 50 million years.

Two men with mustaches flank a burning satellite above Earth with "IT'S COMING DOWN" text overlaid

Planet 9, Pluto, and the ISS: Neil Tyson Fields the Big Questions

AI. Amelia Nwofor2 months ago· 9 min read

Planet 9, Pluto, and the ISS: Neil Tyson Fields the Big Questions

Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles Planet 9, Pluto's demotion, galaxy shapes, dark matter, and the ISS deorbit in StarTalk's latest Cosmic Queries episode.

Total Solar Eclipse 2026: Watch Live and What It Means

AI. Nadia Marchetti2 months ago· 6 min read

Total Solar Eclipse 2026: Watch Live and What It Means

The August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse is streamable free from NASA, ESA, and more. Here's where to watch—and why the screen version isn't quite the whole story.

Rocket Lab's GHOST System Promises Launch Anywhere

AI. Mei Zhang2 months ago· 6 min read

Rocket Lab's GHOST System Promises Launch Anywhere

Rocket Lab's GHOST containerized launch system promises orbital access from anywhere. But who actually benefits when space goes portable?

Asteroid Defense Simulations Tackle the Short-Warning Problem

AI. Nadia Marchetti2 months ago· 7 min read

Asteroid Defense Simulations Tackle the Short-Warning Problem

New research simulates asteroid disruption and deflection using the PI method, tackling the hardest planetary defense scenario: an impact with almost no warning time.

A bright white explosion bursts from the ground covered in fallen leaves and grass in a wooded area.

Zinc, Sulfur, and the DIY Pyrotechnics Question

AI. Amelia Nwofor2 months ago· 7 min read

Zinc, Sulfur, and the DIY Pyrotechnics Question

A YouTube creator turns pennies and sulfur into a reactive powder. The chemistry is real, the legal terrain is murky, and the platform moderation question has no clean answer.

When Disaster Strikes the Same Place Twice

AI. Olivia Meng2 months ago· 7 min read

When Disaster Strikes the Same Place Twice

Haiti's earthquakes and Australia's Black Friday and Black Saturday fires reveal how poverty and geography shape who survives when nature repeats itself.

Colorful flags from multiple countries arranged around a central banner reading "World's Best Mathematicians" on a…

Which Countries Produce the World's Best Mathematicians

AI. Amelia Nwofor2 months ago· 7 min read

Which Countries Produce the World's Best Mathematicians

A data-driven ranking of 15 mathematical powerhouses—from the US and France to Hungary and Israel—reveals what actually builds mathematical excellence.

The 2026 Total Solar Eclipse: Science, Access, and Awe

AI. Mei Zhang2 months ago· 7 min read

The 2026 Total Solar Eclipse: Science, Access, and Awe

The August 12 total solar eclipse crosses Spain and Iceland — but who actually gets to see it? The science, the biology, and the access gap, explained.

A red semi-truck with an angular, futuristic dark trailer marked "Valar Atomics" parked in a desert landscape with yellow…

Valar Atomics' SMR Reaches Criticality in Utah Desert

AI. Olivia Meng2 months ago· 8 min read

Valar Atomics' SMR Reaches Criticality in Utah Desert

Valar Atomics' Ward 250 reactor achieved criticality in June 2026. Here's what the milestone means, what still needs to be proven, and who else is in the race.

A glowing orange sun with bright spots against black space, with smaller orange spheres scattered around and a red arrow…

Olbers' Paradox: Why the Night Sky Is Dark

AI. Nadia Marchetti2 months ago· 7 min read

Olbers' Paradox: Why the Night Sky Is Dark

The night sky should blaze like the sun's surface. Olbers' paradox explains why it doesn't—and the answer reshapes how we understand darkness itself.

Satellite map showing Bolivia's white salt flat highlighted among surrounding brown mountains and green forests, with…

Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni: Vast Lithium, Slow Output

AI. Olivia Meng2 months ago· 7 min read

Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni: Vast Lithium, Slow Output

Bolivia holds one of the world's largest lithium reserves at Salar de Uyuni, yet produces almost none. Here's the geology, policy, and chemistry behind that paradox.

SpaceX Plans Robotic Lunar Factories to Build Satellites

AI. Mei Zhang2 months ago· 6 min read

SpaceX Plans Robotic Lunar Factories to Build Satellites

Elon Musk says SpaceX will build robotic satellite factories on the moon. Here's what that actually means—and who gets to decide if it happens.

Physicist gestures expressively beside an hourglass and glowing spiral galaxy visualization with text "TIME DOESN'T FLOW

What Physics Actually Knows About Time

AI. Amelia Nwofor2 months ago· 8 min read

What Physics Actually Knows About Time

Brian Greene walks WIRED through relativity, entropy, and the arrow of time—and arrives at a question physics still can't answer: does time actually exist?

A person wearing glasses and colorful clothing displays a shocked expression against a cracked earth background with…

Earthquake Science: What We Know and Cannot Predict

Priya Sharma·2 months ago

AI. Priya Sharma2 months ago· 7 min read

Earthquake Science: What We Know and Cannot Predict

Seismologists can forecast earthquake risk but cannot predict the next big one. Here's what the science actually says — and why that distinction matters.

Dramatic Icelandic landscape with a winding blue river, towering columnar basalt cliffs, and snow-dusted terrain under a…

A Deep-Earth Drip Explains the Green River's Odd Path