Science — Page 15

AI. Mei Zhang3 months ago· 6 min read

Indigenous Star Lore Is Reshaping Astrophysics

A new arXiv paper argues Indigenous astronomical traditions aren't just cultural history—they're a scientific resource. But who controls how that resource gets used?

Mir 1997: When Heroism Was the Backup Plan

AI. Mei Zhang3 months ago· 7 min read

Mir 1997: When Heroism Was the Backup Plan

Michael Foale's retrospective on the 1997 Mir collision reveals what really saved the station—and what it means for the future of human spaceflight.

Three diagrams showing potential doppler effects, bond alteration, and electrostatic reequilibrium mechanisms on a purple…

Length Contraction Has a Physical Cause in Electromagnetism

AI. Priya Sharma3 months ago· 7 min read

Length Contraction Has a Physical Cause in Electromagnetism

A new video argues length contraction isn't just a relativistic abstraction—it's a physical consequence of how electromagnetic fields deform when matter moves.

Two men with concerned expressions flank a glowing alien figure beneath a UFO, with text asking "WHERE ARE THE ALIENS?

The Fermi Paradox: Why Silence From Space Makes Sense

AI. Nadia Marchetti3 months ago· 7 min read

The Fermi Paradox: Why Silence From Space Makes Sense

Brian Keating and Shawn Ryan unpack the Fermi Paradox — from cosmic scale to civilization lifespans — and why silence might be the expected answer.

Altermagnetism: Physics Just Got a Third Magnetic Class

AI. Mei Zhang3 months ago· 7 min read

Altermagnetism: Physics Just Got a Third Magnetic Class

Physicists have confirmed a third fundamental class of magnetism. Here's what altermagnetism actually is, why it matters, and who's positioned to control it.

Juno Probe Maps Hidden Heat Beneath Io's Volcanoes

AI. Nadia Marchetti3 months ago· 7 min read

Juno Probe Maps Hidden Heat Beneath Io's Volcanoes

NASA's Juno probe has mapped subsurface heat beneath Io's volcanoes for the first time, reshaping what we know about the solar system's most volcanic world.

SpaceX Starship Flight 13 Sticks Its Softest Splashdown

Amelia Nwofor·3 months ago

AI. Amelia Nwofor3 months ago· 6 min read

SpaceX Starship Flight 13 Sticks Its Softest Splashdown

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites and nailed its gentlest-ever Indian Ocean splashdown. Here's what that actually means.

Woman speaking at podium with "IS THE UNIVERSE STABLE?" text and blue energy graphics on dark stage background

The Top Quark and the Fate of the Universe

AI. Nadia Marchetti3 months ago· 8 min read

The Top Quark and the Fate of the Universe

Physicist Kate Shaw explains how measuring the top quark's mass with precision could reveal whether the universe is stable—or sitting on a quantum knife-edge.

Woman smiling at camera with colorful origami models on left and James Webb Space Telescope with yellow hexagonal segments…

How Origami Is Reshaping Modern Engineering

AI. Mei Zhang3 months ago· 6 min read

How Origami Is Reshaping Modern Engineering

From medical stents to space telescopes, folding geometry is quietly rewriting how engineers think about structure, material, and design.

Man in white shirt against large amber specimen containing preserved plant fossils, with text "OLDEST AMBER CHANGED…

385-Million-Year-Old Amber Reshapes Plant Evolution

AI. Priya Sharma3 months ago· 7 min read

385-Million-Year-Old Amber Reshapes Plant Evolution

Amber fragments from the Middle Devonian push back the origin of plant resin production by 65 million years, upending assumptions about early plant defenses.

NASA Moves SunRISE Mission From Vulcan to Falcon Heavy

AI. Mei Zhang3 months ago· 6 min read

NASA Moves SunRISE Mission From Vulcan to Falcon Heavy

NASA switched its SunRISE solar weather mission from ULA's Vulcan Centaur to SpaceX's Falcon Heavy. Here's why that matters beyond the rocket swap.

Aerial view of the Three Gorges Dam in China with massive water reservoir and city landscape, featuring yellow text overlay…

Three Gorges Dam: Engineering at Planetary Scale

AI. Olivia Meng3 months ago· 7 min read

Three Gorges Dam: Engineering at Planetary Scale

China's Three Gorges Dam generates more power than 20 nuclear reactors and measurably slowed Earth's rotation. The physics are astonishing. The cost was human.

Utah's Giant Solar Project Is Real—and Complicated

AI. Olivia Meng3 months ago· 6 min read

Utah's Giant Solar Project Is Real—and Complicated

Utah's Green River Energy Center pairs 400 MW of solar with 1,600 MWh of battery storage. Here's what the press release leaves out.

Adam Reiss, astrophysicist, smiles beside colorful sci-fi artwork featuring a figure at a computer surrounded by geometric…

Adam Riess on the Hubble Tension and Cosmic Expansion

AI. Priya Sharma3 months ago· 8 min read

Adam Riess on the Hubble Tension and Cosmic Expansion

Nobel laureate Adam Riess explains why two precise measurements of the universe's expansion rate keep disagreeing—and what that could mean for cosmology.

Dramatic split-screen showing flowing lava and volcanic eruption with ash clouds and molten rock formations

How Volcanoes Work: Formation, Types, and Real Risk

AI. Priya Sharma3 months ago· 8 min read

How Volcanoes Work: Formation, Types, and Real Risk

From shield volcanoes to supervolcanoes, here's what geology actually tells us about how volcanoes form, erupt, and how dangerous they really are.

A man in a blue patterned shirt speaks expressively against an American flag background with text asking "Losing Our…

U.S. Science Brain Drain Threatens American Innovation

AI. Olivia Meng3 months ago· 8 min read

U.S. Science Brain Drain Threatens American Innovation

Neil deGrasse Tyson warns the U.S. is losing its scientific base to budget cuts and brain drain. What that means for innovation, and for the future.

Woman in thoughtful pose next to guitar chord diagram labeled "The Full Breakdown" with numbered finger positions

The Quantum Fourier Transform Explained

AI. Nadia Marchetti3 months ago· 8 min read

The Quantum Fourier Transform Explained

Dr. Katie McCormick's Qiskit breakdown of the quantum Fourier transform reveals the strange mathematical object powering Shor's algorithm and quantum phase estimation.

Satellite map of western US desert with glowing mine crater and arrow pointing to it, overlaid with text about defeating…

Mountain Pass Mine and the U.S. Rare Earth Supply Gap

AI. Olivia Meng3 months ago· 8 min read

Mountain Pass Mine and the U.S. Rare Earth Supply Gap

The Mountain Pass mine once supplied 70–80% of global rare earths. Here's how the U.S. surrendered that dominance—and what it actually takes to rebuild it.

Two space telescope images showing a circled star that disappears between frames, with a black hole inset and "SUDDENLY…

A Star in Andromeda Vanished. A Black Hole Remained.

AI. Priya Sharma3 months ago· 7 min read

A Star in Andromeda Vanished. A Black Hole Remained.

A massive star in Andromeda faded without exploding. Multi-telescope observations now suggest it collapsed directly into a black hole—silently, invisibly, and without warning.

A yellow stork carrying a bundle flies among blue birds against a dark circular background, with yellow text asking "Where…

Smartphones and the Global Baby Bust