Astronomy
Attacks on Higher Education Are Attacks on All Americans
If Americans don’t fight back against efforts to dismantle higher education, the U.S. will lose lifesaving medical research, innovation that spurs our economy and the ability to freely study science and society
Dark Matter Could Create Dark Dwarfs at the Center of the Milky Way
Although dark matter doesn't seem to interact with regular matter or itself, if it has particle-like properties, it could self-annihilate if packed into a tight space. In a new paper, researchers have proposed that dark matter could make its way into brown dwarfs near the Galactic Center, where everything is packed more closely together. The dark matter could annihilate inside the brown dwarfs, creating Dark Dwarfs that could be detected.
High Frequency Gravitational Waves Could Be Detect By Changing The Angle Of A Mirror
Gravitational waves come in all shapes and sizes - and frequencies. But, so far, we haven’t been able to capture any of the higher frequency ones. That’s unfortunate, as they might hold the key to unlocking our understanding of some really interesting physical phenomena, such as Boson clouds and tiny block hole mergers. A new paper from researchers at Notre Dame and Caltech, led by PhD student Christopher Jungkind, explores how we might use one of the world’s most prolific gravitational wave observatories, GEO600, to capture signals from those phenomena for the first time.
Planets Can Trigger Damaging Flares
We all know what it's like when Earth is on the receiving end of a solar flare. Things get spicy in the upper atmosphere, and the outbursts have the potential to disrupt technology here at home. Catastrophic flares of radiation devastate planets around other stars, too. Now it looks like scientists have found that planets orbiting close to their stars can trigger the flares that threaten to harm them.
How the Chemistry of Mars Both Extended and Ended Its Habitability
NASA's Curiosity Rover has been exploring Gale Crater and found that carbonate materials make up to 11% of rocks in the region. These are important because carbonates formed by pulling CO2 out of Mars's atmosphere. A new paper suggests that Mars once had a self-regulating climate system that created oases of liquid water on its surface over billions of years, keeping the planet barely habitable with alternating wet and dry periods. The atmosphere is thin because its CO2 was locked away in rocks.
What if you Threw a Paper Airplane from the Space Station?
Here's a thought experiment. What would happen if you were on the International Space Station, folded up a paper airplane, and threw it from the station? According to a new paper, it would fall from orbit in just 3.5 days, but still keep aerodynamic stability until about 120 km. Then it would heat up and combust at about 90-110 km altitude. It's a fun idea, but there are actual practical uses to probe the density of the atmosphere or test thin-film space technologies.
Quaoar's Atmosphere Doesn't Exist And Its Rings Shouldn't
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can tell us a lot about the subjects of its observations if it spends enough time with them. That includes lonely rocks on the edges of our solar system, such as the Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) Quaoar. Recent observations using the NIRCam on JWST and pre-published on arXiv by researchers at the University of Central Florida, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Kyoto University add a plethora of new data to our understanding of this enigmatic object, including insights into what might be causing its ring system and its hydrocarbon atmosphere.
Globular Clusters: The Vera Rubin Observatory is Just Getting Started
The long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory has delivered some preliminary observations of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae field. 47 Tuc is the Milky Way's second-brightest globular cluster, second to Omega Centauri. The Rubin Observatory's data demonstrates the telescope's promising scientific potential.
Four New Autism Subtypes Link Genes to Children's Traits
Autism has at least four subtypes, an analysis of more than 5,000 children’s genes, traits and developmental trajectories has shown
Cheapest ever! Feel the force with 20% off this stunning Lego Star Wars C-3PO set, its lowest ever price
Lego Thanos-snapped this awesome Avengers set away, but Amazon has blipped it back for Prime Day
July full moon 2025 rises tonight: Everything you need to know about the low-riding 'Buck Moon'
Europe's first deep-space optical communication link
The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully established a transmission-reception optical link with NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment onboard its Psyche mission, located 265 million kilometres away, using two optical grounds stations developed for this purpose in Greece.
We loved this star projector for kids and now it's 37% off for Prime Day
Spotted! All the best hidden binocular deals this Amazon Prime Day!
My go-to pair of budget binoculars are now even cheaper this Prime Day
The perfect binoculars for casual stargazing are now under $100 for Amazon Prime Day
Private Ax-4 astronauts aboard ISS are filling their time with science, views of Earth and pierogis (video)
‘Science Fair’ of Lost Research Protests Trump Cuts
A protest at a congressional office building highlighted future research findings that vast cuts to science will erase