Bizarre exoplanet clouds + Counting insects with weather radar
Astronomers have spotted clouds of vaporized sand on an exoplanet. And, weather radar data reveal insects in US skies—100 trillion of them.
‘Go for toilet’: Artemis II’s out-of-this-world plumbing problem
Investigate the engineering behind space toilets and discover how Artemis II’s crew solved a surprising plumbing problem in microgravity.
The new frontier of cancer research is in space
In the microgravity of space, tumors can triple in size in just 10 days. That could be a boon for cancer research, and a risk for astronauts.
Planning your photo ops for a trip around the moon
The Artemis II crew took photos of the far side of the moon with handheld cameras. A science team on Earth had plenty of requests.
Sci-fi thriller combines aliens, robots, and Cherokee culture
The sci-fi thriller “Hole in the Sky” imagines an alien first-contact scenario set in the heart of Cherokee Nation.
Searching for dark matter, deep in the Earth
The SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment, located deep in a nickel mine, aims to detect signs of dark matter particles passing through the Earth.
Listening for the cosmic ‘dark ages,’ from the lunar far side
The LuSEE-Night mission would place a small radio telescope on the far side of the moon to listen for signals of the cosmic “dark ages.”
The lucky breaks that make our Earth home
An astrophysicist explores all that it took for life to exist on Earth, from the formation of stars to self-organizing molecules.
Why does life exist? Follow the energy
In “Why Do We Exist?” Hakeem Oluseyi explores how life may have emerged to move energy through matter—and why Earth is the perfect setting.
Inside the lives of astronauts’ families
Tracy Scott’s dad walked on the moon. Now, as a sociologist, she studies the lives and families of other Apollo-era astronauts.