Science — Page 4

From quantum mechanics to deep space, neuroscience to climate systems. Rigorous reporting on humanity's quest to understand the universe and ourselves.

Numberphile graphic with bold “BIGGEST PRIME GAPS” text and a 1831–1847 number line bracketed in red

Why Gaps Between Prime Numbers Have No Upper Limit

Priya Sharma·4 weeks ago

AI. Priya Sharma4 weeks ago· 6 min read

Why Gaps Between Prime Numbers Have No Upper Limit

A factorial proof creates arbitrarily long prime-free runs, but finding the earliest examples and estimating gaps near huge numbers remain difficult problems.

A Victorian Train Delay Exposes Space Weather Risk

Olivia Meng·4 weeks ago

AI. Olivia Meng4 weeks ago· 7 min read

A Victorian Train Delay Exposes Space Weather Risk

A disputed Victorian train delay links geomagnetic activity to telegraph faults, showing how space weather affected systems before satellites and power grids.

Nancy Grace Roman telescope graphic over a collage of purple test images and text: IT TOOK THOUSANDS OF SELFIES

Roman Telescope's First Test Image Is a Health Check

Amelia Nwofor·4 weeks ago

AI. Amelia Nwofor4 weeks ago· 7 min read

Roman Telescope's First Test Image Is a Health Check

Roman's blurry first test image checks optics and detectors, while fuel savings raise a longer question: how much science can it deliver over decades?

Black graphic with layered gray waves, a blue curve, and white points beneath the text Half Of Pi

How Exponential Damping Evaluates the Sinc Integral

Nadia Marchetti·1 month ago

AI. Nadia Marchetti1 month ago· 6 min read

How Exponential Damping Evaluates the Sinc Integral

The sinc integral equals pi over two despite lacking an elementary antiderivative. Exponential damping reveals the value and the convergence caveat behind it.

Precision Burn Could Extend NASA's Roman Mission to 22 Years

Mei Zhang·1 month ago

AI. Mei Zhang1 month ago· 7 min read

Precision Burn Could Extend NASA's Roman Mission to 22 Years

A precise engine burn could let NASA's Roman telescope operate for 22 years, expanding its science horizon if fuel, hardware, instruments and support hold up.

PBS graphic with “THE NEXT SUPERCONDUCTOR?” text, a yellow arrow, and a close-up pencil on a hexagonal background

How a 1.1-Degree Twist Rewrites Graphene's Physics

Priya Sharma·1 month ago

AI. Priya Sharma1 month ago· 6 min read

How a 1.1-Degree Twist Rewrites Graphene's Physics

A 1.1-degree twist lets bilayer graphene host insulating, magnetic and superconducting phases, but fabrication and practical uses remain unsettled today.

White mathematical symbols, including arithmetic signs, roots, Greek letters, infinity, calculus notation and geometric…

How Mathematical Symbols Compress Ideas and Cause Errors

Amelia Nwofor·1 month ago

AI. Amelia Nwofor1 month ago· 7 min read

How Mathematical Symbols Compress Ideas and Cause Errors

A clear guide to how mathematical notation encodes logic, where familiar symbols change meaning, and why context matters more than memorising a glossary alone.

BORG Drinking Study: Nearly One in Three Users Report Blackouts

Mei Zhang·1 month ago

AI. Mei Zhang1 month ago· 6 min read

BORG Drinking Study: Nearly One in Three Users Report Blackouts

A new study finds nearly one-third of college-age BORG drinkers reported blacking out. What the data shows, what it can't tell us, and what prevention should target.

Oil pours into a barrel beside a refueled airplane, with bold WHY KEROSENE? text and a crossed-out gasoline icon

Why Commercial Jets Burn Kerosene and Not Gasoline

Amelia Nwofor·1 month ago

AI. Amelia Nwofor1 month ago· 7 min read

Why Commercial Jets Burn Kerosene and Not Gasoline

Jet engines run on a refined cousin of lamp oil. Here's how flash points, vapor lock and freezing altitudes settled that choice, and where the story gets murkier.

700 Falcon Launches: What SpaceX's Milestone Actually Measures

Olivia Meng·1 month ago

AI. Olivia Meng1 month ago· 5 min read

700 Falcon Launches: What SpaceX's Milestone Actually Measures

SpaceX's 700th Falcon mission carried the last three SES O3b mPOWER satellites. What the launch count proves, and what it leaves unresolved.

Early Fall Colors in Nunavut: What the Tundra Can Tell Us

Mei Zhang·1 month ago

AI. Mei Zhang1 month ago· 7 min read

Early Fall Colors in Nunavut: What the Tundra Can Tell Us

Satellite images show autumn colors arriving early in Nunavut. We look at what one snapshot can and cannot say about a changing Arctic.

Trump's Space Academy: Where NASA Ends and the Military Begins

Amelia Nwofor·1 month ago

AI. Amelia Nwofor1 month ago· 7 min read

Trump's Space Academy: Where NASA Ends and the Military Begins

An executive order creating a U.S. Space Academy sounds like a training win. The open questions about governance, funding and civilian control are harder.

NASA and IBM Launch AI Model to Search the Moon's Data Archive

Olivia Meng·1 month ago

AI. Olivia Meng1 month ago· 7 min read

NASA and IBM Launch AI Model to Search the Moon's Data Archive

NASA and IBM have released an open AI model trained on 17 years of lunar data. What it maps, what it cannot do yet, and why researchers are still testing.

Two speakers flank a large illustrated brain against a psychedelic background, with bold text reading “TURNING THE CLOCK…

Octopuses on MDMA: What Psychedelics Reveal About the Adult Brain

Mei Zhang·1 month ago

AI. Mei Zhang1 month ago· 7 min read

Octopuses on MDMA: What Psychedelics Reveal About the Adult Brain

Neuroscientist Gül Dölen explains how psychedelics may temporarily reopen the brain's critical periods for learning, and what octopuses on MDMA taught her lab.

Portraits of two historical scientists flank electric field lines between two +q charges beneath “INVERSE SQUARE LAW?”

How a Motionless Cork Led Physics to Coulomb's Law

Priya Sharma·1 month ago

AI. Priya Sharma1 month ago· 6 min read

How a Motionless Cork Led Physics to Coulomb's Law

Franklin's charged-can puzzle, Priestley's Newtonian guess, Cavendish's unpublished precision, and the torsion balance that finally measured the electric force.

Rocket Lab Protests NASA's $700 Million Mars Orbiter Award to Blue Origin

Amelia Nwofor·1 month ago

AI. Amelia Nwofor1 month ago· 5 min read

Rocket Lab Protests NASA's $700 Million Mars Orbiter Award to Blue Origin

Rocket Lab has formally protested NASA's award of a $700 million Mars orbiter contract to Blue Origin, arguing the selection conflicts with congressional eligibility rules.

A Mapped Fruit Fly Brain Is Now Playing Doom. What Does That Prove?

Tessa Moreno·1 month ago

AI. Tessa Moreno1 month ago· 7 min read

A Mapped Fruit Fly Brain Is Now Playing Doom. What Does That Prove?

Google's reconstruction of a fruit fly brain, with over 166,000 neurons, now drives Doom and Mario 64. What the experiment shows, and what it cannot yet claim.

Zodiacal Light: Why September's New Moon Is the Best Week to See the False Dawn

Mei Zhang·1 month ago

AI. Mei Zhang1 month ago· 6 min read

Zodiacal Light: Why September's New Moon Is the Best Week to See the False Dawn

September's new moon opens a dark-sky window for the zodiacal light, the faint 'false dawn' glow from interplanetary dust. How to see it, and why it's visible at all.

Factory workers stand beside a massive foil-wrapped aluminum slab, highlighted by a red arrow and bold ALUMINUM text

From Emperor's Tableware to Soda Cans: How Aluminum Is Made

Olivia Meng·1 month ago

AI. Olivia Meng1 month ago· 6 min read

From Emperor's Tableware to Soda Cans: How Aluminum Is Made

Aluminum was once more precious than gold. How the Bayer and Hall-Héroult processes turned red bauxite rock into modern metal.

Vega, Altair and Deneb: Why the Summer Triangle Rules the Sky

Amelia Nwofor·1 month ago

AI. Amelia Nwofor1 month ago· 6 min read

Vega, Altair and Deneb: Why the Summer Triangle Rules the Sky

Vega, Altair and Deneb form the Summer Triangle, a pattern built from perspective, not physics. What the asterism actually is, and why it lingers past summer.