Astronomy
New Scientist recommends Hamnet, and its look at our links with nature
New Scientist recommends Hamnet, and its look at our links with nature
Why I'm still an environmental optimist – despite it all
What to read this week: Bonded by Evolution by Paul Eastwick
'Roughly 109.5 golden retrievers': a new way to measure ice
Why I'm still an environmental optimist – despite it all
What to read this week: Bonded by Evolution by Paul Eastwick
'Roughly 109.5 golden retrievers': a new way to measure ice
New Sungrazer Comet A1 MAPS Could Be Bright in Early April If It Survives Perihelion
In a clockwork predictable Universe, comets and how they will ultimately perform is always a big wild card. A new sungrazer comet discovered at the start of this year has given astronomers pause. C/2026 A1 MAPS could put on a memorable if brief show in early April, if it doesn’t join the long list of comets that failed to live up to expectations.
What does it take to eat like an Olympian?
There’s more to Winter Olympians’ diets than calories—but for some, there are also lots and lots of calories
Putting a price tag on nature failed. Can radical tactics save it?
Putting a price tag on nature failed. Can radical tactics save it?
The surprising origins of Britain's Bronze Age immigrants revealed
The surprising origins of Britain's Bronze Age immigrants revealed
Crew-12 Members and Insignia
FDA won’t consider a new mRNA vaccine for flu despite the technology’s life-saving promise
The U.S.’s drug safety agency declined to review a next-gen flu vaccine that uses the same tech as the coronavirus shots
The Radical Propulsion Needed to Catch the Solar Gravitational Lens
Sending a mission to the Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) is the most effective way of actually directly imaging a potentially habitable planet, as well as its atmosphere, and even possibly some of its cities. But, the SGL is somewhere around 650-900 AU away, making it almost 4 times farther than even Voyager 1 has traveled - and that’s the farthest anything human has made it so far. It will take Voyager 1 another 130+ years to reach the SGL, so obviously traditional propulsion methods won’t work to get any reasonably sized craft there in any reasonable timeframe. A new paper by an SGL mission’s most vocal proponent, Dr. Slava Turyshev of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, walks through the different types of propulsion methods that might eventually get us there - and it looks like we would have a lot of work to do if we plan to do it anytime soon.
