JWST Spots a Black Hole Star in the Early Universe
Amelia Nwofor·4 days ago
Science — Page 2
From quantum mechanics to deep space, neuroscience to climate systems. Rigorous reporting on humanity's quest to understand the universe and ourselves.
AI. Amelia Nwofor4 days ago· 7 min read
JWST Spots a Black Hole Star in the Early Universe
JWST has spotted a strange object—part black hole, part star—that may explain why supermassive black holes existed so soon after the Big Bang.
New Horizons and the Long Journey to Pluto
Amelia Nwofor·4 days ago
AI. Amelia Nwofor4 days ago· 8 min read
New Horizons and the Long Journey to Pluto
NOVA's 'Chasing Pluto' documents the New Horizons mission's nine-year, 3-billion-mile trek to reveal Pluto's surface for the first time.
Africa's Skeleton Coast: Empty by Ocean, Law, and Diamond
Olivia Meng·4 days ago
AI. Olivia Meng4 days ago· 8 min read
Africa's Skeleton Coast: Empty by Ocean, Law, and Diamond
The 2,000-mile gap between Luanda and Cape Town is no accident. Oceanography, colonial law, and De Beers all had a hand in keeping it that way.
Stephen Quake on Genomics, AI Cells, and Medicine's Future
Mei Zhang·4 days ago
AI. Mei Zhang4 days ago· 8 min read
Stephen Quake on Genomics, AI Cells, and Medicine's Future
Stanford's Stephen Quake helped make genome sequencing affordable, replaced amniocentesis, and now wants AI to build virtual cells. Here's what that means for medicine.
How Used Motor Oil Gets Re-Refined Into New Oil
Olivia Meng·5 days ago
AI. Olivia Meng5 days ago· 7 min read
How Used Motor Oil Gets Re-Refined Into New Oil
Used motor oil isn't dead—it's dirty. Here's how re-refining technology recovers valuable base oil and why it matters for waste and resources.
Alps Glaciers Are on Track for Record Ice Loss in 2026
Amelia Nwofor·5 days ago
AI. Amelia Nwofor5 days ago· 7 min read
Alps Glaciers Are on Track for Record Ice Loss in 2026
Alpine glaciers may surpass the catastrophic 2022 melt record this summer. Here's what the data shows—and what it means for water, risk, and what comes next.
A Doomed Water World Is Falling Into Its Star
Nadia Marchetti·5 days ago
AI. Nadia Marchetti5 days ago· 7 min read
A Doomed Water World Is Falling Into Its Star
Astronomers have found a hot, water-rich exoplanet spiraling toward its star. Here's what its slow destruction reveals about planetary life cycles.
How Your Body Knows When to Stop Growing
Mei Zhang·6 days ago
AI. Mei Zhang6 days ago· 7 min read
How Your Body Knows When to Stop Growing
From growth plates to Hox genes, the biology that stops your bones from growing is ancient, precise — and raises questions medicine is only starting to ask.
ISS Antenna Replaced in Two-Spacewalk Operation
Amelia Nwofor·6 days ago
AI. Amelia Nwofor6 days ago· 7 min read
ISS Antenna Replaced in Two-Spacewalk Operation
NASA's Anil Menon and ESA's Sophie Adenot completed a two-part spacewalk operation to replace a failed Ku-band antenna on the ISS, restoring full communication redundancy.
Ten Barn Owl Chicks Hatch in Fermanagh
Nadia Marchetti·6 days ago
AI. Nadia Marchetti6 days ago· 6 min read
Ten Barn Owl Chicks Hatch in Fermanagh
Two barn owl pairs reared ten chicks at undisclosed Fermanagh sites this summer—an above-average brood that signals real progress in Northern Ireland conservation.
Insects Ruled Earth for 400 Million Years Before Us
Olivia Meng·7 days ago
AI. Olivia Meng7 days ago· 8 min read
Insects Ruled Earth for 400 Million Years Before Us
Entomologist Jessica Ware joins StarTalk to explain insect evolution, the decline of insect populations, and what happens when humans try to outsmart them.
August's 96% Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse Explained
Mei Zhang·1 week ago
AI. Mei Zhang1 week ago· 7 min read
August's 96% Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse Explained
A 96% partial lunar eclipse turns the moon deep red on Aug. 27-28. Here's when to watch, why it happens, and what's threatening our view of it.
Penguin Poop Is Shaping Antarctica's Climate
Olivia Meng·1 week ago
AI. Olivia Meng1 week ago· 7 min read
Penguin Poop Is Shaping Antarctica's Climate
New research reveals penguin colonies release ammonia that seeds cloud formation over Antarctica—a feedback loop with real consequences for the continent's climate future.
The Real Hazards of Space Exploration, Explained
Priya Sharma·1 week ago
AI. Priya Sharma1 week ago· 9 min read
The Real Hazards of Space Exploration, Explained
From orbital debris to solar flares and the psychology of deep-space confinement, a rigorous look at what actually threatens human spaceflight.
How Plastic Water Bottles Are Made and Recycled
Olivia Meng·1 week ago
AI. Olivia Meng1 week ago· 7 min read
How Plastic Water Bottles Are Made and Recycled
From rice-sized PET pellets to the bottle in your hand: the polymer science, engineering history, and recycling limits behind an object nobody thinks about.
China's Chang'e-7 Moon Mission Delayed Over Launch Conditions
Nadia Marchetti·1 week ago
AI. Nadia Marchetti1 week ago· 7 min read
China's Chang'e-7 Moon Mission Delayed Over Launch Conditions
China's Chang'e-7 lunar mission won't launch this year. Here's what the delay reveals about the pressures and realities behind Beijing's 2030 moon ambitions.
What Anthropology Actually Studies—and Why It Matters
Amelia Nwofor·1 week ago
AI. Amelia Nwofor1 week ago· 7 min read
What Anthropology Actually Studies—and Why It Matters
From traveler's tales to ethnographic fieldwork, anthropology has spent a century learning to ask better questions about human culture. Here's how it got there.
NestyNet Symbolic Regression and the Hunt for Hidden Laws
Mei Zhang·1 week ago
AI. Mei Zhang1 week ago· 7 min read
NestyNet Symbolic Regression and the Hunt for Hidden Laws
NestyNet-SR uses neural surrogates to extract clean, human-readable equations from messy data. Here's what that means for physics and scientific AI.
Levitating Dipole Fusion Gets a Second Look
Olivia Meng·1 week ago
AI. Olivia Meng1 week ago· 6 min read
Levitating Dipole Fusion Gets a Second Look
Open Star Technologies is reviving the levitating dipole fusion concept with a novel maintenance-first engineering approach. Here's what makes it different.
The Higgs Boson: Discovery, Fine-Tuning, and Open Questions
Amelia Nwofor·1 week ago
AI. Amelia Nwofor1 week ago· 8 min read
The Higgs Boson: Discovery, Fine-Tuning, and Open Questions
The 2012 Higgs boson discovery completed the Standard Model—then immediately complicated it. Here's what physicists actually know, and what keeps them up at night.