Oh, would it not be absurd if there was no objective state?
What if the unobserved always waits, insubstantial,
till our eyes give it shape?

— Peter Hammill

Astronomy

Can we genetically improve humans using George Church’s famous list?

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 12:30pm
Columnist Michael Le Page delves into a catalogue of hundreds of potentially beneficial gene mutations and variants that is popular with transhumanists
Categories: Astronomy

Goldstone’s DSS-15 Antenna and the Milky Way

NASA Image of the Day - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 12:23pm
Deep Space Station 15 (DSS-15), one of the 112-foot (34-meter) antennas at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, looks skyward, with the stars of the Milky Way overhead, in September 2025.
Categories: Astronomy, NASA

New Measurements of Europa's Ice Shell Taint the Icy Moon's Potential Habitability

Universe Today - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 12:00pm

Jupiter's icy moon Europa is a tantalizing target in the search for habitability in our Solar System. Its thick, global ice sheet overlies a warm, salty, chemically-rich ocean. But for life to exist in that ocean, nutrients need to find their way from the surface to the ocean. New research says that may be very difficult.

Categories: Astronomy

Another Earth or a blip in the data? We may never find out

Scientific American.com - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 12:00pm

An exoplanet called HD 137010 b might be the closest thing astronomers have ever seen to “Earth 2.0.” The trouble is that it’s only been seen once—and may never be glimpsed again

Categories: Astronomy

Boron Could Be Astrobiology’s Unsung Hero

Universe Today - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 11:25am

The light, rare element boron, better known as the primary component of borax, a longtime household cleaner, was almost mined to exhaustion in parts of the old American West. But boron could arguably be an unsung hero in cosmic astrobiology, although it's still not listed as one of the key elements needed for the onset of life.

Categories: Astronomy

For predatory dinosaurs, the Late Jurassic was an all-you-can-eat sauropod buffet

Scientific American.com - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 10:20am

Some 150 million years ago sauropods dramatically shaped the dinosaur ecosystem in what is now the western U.S., according to a new study

Categories: Astronomy

A bomb cyclone and extreme cold will freeze the eastern U.S.—again

Scientific American.com - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 10:16am

In the latest bout of winter weather, a bomb cyclone could bring blizzard conditions to the Carolinas while freezing temperatures reach all the way to Florida

Categories: Astronomy

Perseverance Rover Discovers an Ancient Martian Beach, Complete with Waves

Universe Today - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 10:06am

When the rover now named Perseverance landed in Jezero crater in early 2021, scientists already knew they had picked an interesting place to scope out. From space, they could see what looked like a bathtub ring around the crater, indicating there could once have been water there. But there was some debate about what exactly that meant, and it’s taken almost five years to settle it. A new paper from PhD student Alex Jones at Imperial College London and his co-authors has definitively settled the debate on the source of that feature - part of it was once a beach.

Categories: Astronomy

Why people can have Alzheimer's-related brain damage but no symptoms

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 10:00am
Some people don’t develop dementia despite showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease in their brain, and we're starting to understand why
Categories: Astronomy

Why people can have Alzheimer's-related brain damage but no symptoms

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 10:00am
Some people don’t develop dementia despite showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease in their brain, and we're starting to understand why
Categories: Astronomy

Elon Musk is making a big bet on his future vision – will it work?

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 9:24am
Reports suggest that Elon Musk is eyeing up a merger involving SpaceX, Tesla and xAI, but what does he hope to achieve by consolidating his business empire?
Categories: Astronomy

Elon Musk is making a big bet on his future vision – will it work?

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 9:24am
Reports suggest that Elon Musk is eyeing up a merger involving SpaceX, Tesla and xAI, but what does he hope to achieve by consolidating his business empire?
Categories: Astronomy

Week in images: 26-30 January 2026

ESO Top News - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 9:10am

Week in images: 26-30 January 2026

Discover our week through the lens

Categories: Astronomy

This Week's Sky at a Glance, January 30 – February 8

Sky & Telescope Magazine - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 8:31am

The dazzling Moon occults Regulus Monday night while Regulus is busy announcing February. Betelgeuse turns the Winter Hexagon into the Heavenly G.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, January 30 – February 8 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Categories: Astronomy

Yawning has an unexpected influence on the fluid inside your brain

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 8:00am
Yawning and deep breathing each have different effects on the movement of fluids in the brain, and each of us may have a distinct yawning "signature"
Categories: Astronomy

Yawning has an unexpected influence on the fluid inside your brain

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 8:00am
Yawning and deep breathing each have different effects on the movement of fluids in the brain, and each of us may have a distinct yawning "signature"
Categories: Astronomy

The best new science fiction books of February 2026

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 8:00am
We pick the sci-fi novels we’re most looking forward to reading this month, from a new Brandon Sanderson to the latest from Makana Yamamoto
Categories: Astronomy

The best new science fiction books of February 2026

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 8:00am
We pick the sci-fi novels we’re most looking forward to reading this month, from a new Brandon Sanderson to the latest from Makana Yamamoto
Categories: Astronomy

Lost ancient Greek star catalog decoded by particle accelerator

Scientific American.com - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 7:00am

Synchrotron radiation has revealed a star map made by the ancient astronomer Hipparchus that was thought to be lost to time

Categories: Astronomy

Why the Hubble Space Telescope still matters

Scientific American.com - Fri, 01/30/2026 - 6:45am

The venerable Hubble observatory is going strong despite its decades in space and the advent of next-generation successors

Categories: Astronomy