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Use cases for smart materials in space exploration keep cropping up everywhere. They are used in everything from antenna deployments on satellites to rover deformation and reformation. One of the latest ideas is to use them to transform the solar sails that could primarily be used as a propulsion system for a mission into a heat shield when that mission reaches its final destination. A new paper from Joseph Ivarson and Davide Guzzetti, both of Auburn’s Department of Aerospace Engineering, and published in Acta Astronautica, describes how the idea might work and lists some potential applications exploring various parts of the solar system.

Economists, bankers and even the boss of OpenAI are warning of a rapidly inflating AI bubble. If and when it bursts, what will happen to the technological breakthroughs of the past few years?

Rather randomly I’ve just returned from a theatre tour where my science show featured yeast in one of the experiments, so when research about yeast surviving Martian conditions crossed my desk, it immediately piqued my interest. These microscopic fungi that help our bread rise and our beer ferment might just have what it takes to endure one of the Solar System's harshest environments.

Mars is a planet of mystery! Its surface today is cold and dry, yet evidence suggests it was once home to flowing water. Most of the planet's remaining ice sits locked away at the poles, but recent observations have detected signals of hydrogen in equatorial regions that could indicate buried ice deposits where the environment should be too warm for ice to survive. How did frozen water end up at Mars's equator? It seems we might find the answer in Martian volcanoes.

White dwarfs are stellar corpses, the slowly cooling remnants of stars that ran out of fuel billions of years ago. Our Sun will eventually share this fate, collapsing into a compact object so dense that the heavier it becomes, the smaller it shrinks. This rather strange property is just one of the aspects of white dwarfs that makes them utterly fascinating and occasionally, utterly baffling. Sometimes we find white dwarfs as part of binary systems and they are usually cool and gently radiating their energy out into space. A team of astronomers have recently discovered a peculiar class of these binary systems that defies expectations. The pair of white dwarfs are orbiting each other faster than once per hour and exhibiting temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 degrees Kelvin, significantly hotter than expected and twice their usual size.

Thoracic surgeon Jonathan Villena explains why early screening for lung cancer is critical—even for those without symptoms.

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English ESA Open Day 2025: An Unforgettable Journey Through Space Science at ESAC

On 4 October 2025, the European Space Agency opened the doors of ESAC – the European Space Astronomy Centre near Madrid – for an inspiring day of discovery. Visitors had the opportunity to explore ESA’s window to the Universe, where missions studying our Solar System, the Milky Way and the distant Universe are operated and analysed.

Throughout the day, guests met ESA scientists and engineers, learned about missions such as Gaia, XMM-Newton, and JUICE, and experienced hands-on activities that brought the wonders of astrophysics and planetary science to life. Interactive exhibits, talks, and guided tours showcased how ESA’s science missions are expanding our understanding of the cosmos.

More than two thousand participants of all ages enjoyed an unforgettable day filled with curiosity, innovation, and a shared passion for exploring the Universe.

Spanish Día de Puertas Abiertas de la ESA 2025: Un viaje inolvidable por la ciencia espacial en ESAC

El 4 de octubre de 2025, la Agencia Espacial Europea (ESA) abrió las puertas de ESAC – el Centro Europeo de Astronomía Espacial, cerca de Madrid – para una jornada inspiradora dedicada al descubrimiento. Los visitantes tuvieron la oportunidad única de adentrarse en el corazón del programa científico de la Agencia Espacial Europea, la ventana de la ESA al Universo, donde se operan y analizan misiones que estudian nuestro Sistema Solar, la Vía Láctea y el espacio profundo.

Charlas, exposiciones y visitas guiadas mostraron cómo las misiones científicas de la ESA amplían nuestro conocimiento del cosmos. A lo largo del día, los asistentes pudieron conocer a científicos e ingenieros de la ESA, descubrir misiones como Gaia, XMM-Newton y JUICE, y participar en actividades interactivas que acercaron la astrofísica y la ciencia planetaria al público de todas las edades. 

Más de dos mil personas disfrutaron de una jornada inolvidable y llena de curiosidad, innovación y pasión por explorar el Universo.

It rains on the Sun! Although not in any way we'd recognise from Earth. In the Sun's corona, the superheated atmosphere that extends millions of kilometres above its visible surface, cooler blobs of plasma occasionally form and fall back downward in what astronomers are calling coronal rain. Until now, the mechanism behind the rain has remained a mystery especially during solar flares where it seems to accelerate but researchers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy have finally cracked the puzzle.

Scientists have begun to piece together the origin story of a cataclysmic collision between two black holes that met their fate on an unusual orbital path. The merger, designated GW200208_222617 (that really rolls of the tongue,) stands out among gravitational wave detections as one of the rare events showing clear signs of orbital eccentricity, meaning the black holes followed a squashed, oval shaped orbit rather than a circular one as they spiralled toward their final encounter.

Impulse Space, the California-based venture founded by veteran SpaceX engineer Tom Mueller, has unveiled its proposed architecture for delivering medium-sized payloads to the moon, starting as early as 2028.

A quarter of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff is gone after the Trump administration’s latest reductions in force and earlier layoffs

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt share the Nobel economics prize for work that underlines the importance of investing in research and development

As ancient humans left Africa, they encountered many harsh environments including the Sahara and the high Arctic, but one of the last places they inhabited was Britain, likely due to the relentless cold and damp climate

As ancient humans left Africa, they encountered many harsh environments including the Sahara and the high Arctic, but one of the last places they inhabited was Britain, likely due to the relentless cold and damp climate

Keith Thomas, a man in his 40s with no sensation or movement in his hands, is able to feel and move objects by controlling another person's hand via a brain implant. The technique might one day even allow us to experience another person's body over long distances.

Keith Thomas, a man in his 40s with no sensation or movement in his hands, is able to feel and move objects by controlling another person's hand via a brain implant. The technique might one day even allow us to experience another person's body over long distances.

What happens when your body suddenly stops making the one hormone that keeps your blood sugar in check?

The equatorial regions of Mars are home to unexpectedly enormous layers of ice, and they may have been put there by dramatic volcanic eruptions billions of years ago

The equatorial regions of Mars are home to unexpectedly enormous layers of ice, and they may have been put there by dramatic volcanic eruptions billions of years ago

A whole library’s worth of papyri owned by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law were turned to charcoal by the eruption of Vesuvius. Nearly 2000 years later, we can at last read these lost treasures