The Milky Way’s Stars Reveal Its Turbulent Past

The galaxy's stars keep a record of its history. By reading those stories, astronomers are learning…

No, the James Webb Space Telescope Hasn’t Broken Cosmology

Reports that the JWST killed the reigning cosmological model have been exaggerated. But there’s still much…

Astronomers Radically Reimagine the Making of the Planets

Observations of faraway worlds have forced a near-total rewrite of the story of our solar system.

The Science Behind Why No Two Snowflakes Are Alike

A physicist's obsession with unusual snow crystals has led him to pursue a grand unified theory…

Ancient humans used the moon as a calendar in the sky

Whether the moon was a timekeeper for early humans, as first argued during the Apollo missions,…

The Mystifying Case of the Missing Planets

There's a puzzling lack of planets slightly bigger than Earth, which is making astronomers rethink how…

Exploding Stars May Have Killed Off Prehistoric Predators

Subatomic particles streaming through the atmosphere could have fatally irradiated ancient megafauna like the megalodon monster…

Dark Matter Hunters Are Looking Inside Rocks for New Clues

Dark matter may occasionally interact with minerals in the earth, leaving traces that physicists hope to…

How Are Planets Made? With Very Little Stuff, It Seems

Exoplanets are far more massive than the material they're made of. New evidence suggests our planet-building…