Astronomy

The idea that the rise of tech means today's young people are less intelligent than previous generations is rife – but wrong, says neuroscientist Dean Burnett

Exposing the origins of the improbable – and at times scary – plans of tech billionaires makes Adam Becker's More Everything Forever a disturbing but important book

Quantum theory started with a bout of hay fever, and went on to transform our view of the universe – but its legacy isn't complete

Researchers have used a fungus and bacteria to create rigid, living structures similar to bone and coral, which could one day be used as a self-repairing building material

Scientists have used an artificial circulatory system to create lab-grown chicken, which may improve its texture

Each year, cutting-edge technologies developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for its complex missions and scientific discoveries find new life in applications used to benefit Earth and improve our daily lives.

From 9–13 April, ESA was guest of honour at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva in Switzerland with more than 1000 inventions, which attracted 30 000 visitors from the public. ESA showcased its new technologies and applications that have been invented for space missions and patented for use in and outside the space arena.

President Trump’s efforts to dismantle climate policies won’t stop renewables from rising or fossil fuels from slowing, according to outlooks from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and BloombergNEF

If skies are clear, be sure to watch for the April Lyrid meteors this Easter weekend. Spring in the northern hemisphere brings with it the promise for the Lyrids, the first good meteor shower of the season. Weather is just warming up in April, but we’re not yet in the midst of summer, waiting up late hours for darkness to fall.

Quantum effects like superposition and entanglement have long been seen in single particles, but physicists are on a quest to find out just how big an object can be before it loses its quantumness

There were hints that the world may be quantum long before the development of quantum mechanics in 1925 – could we have come up with this revolutionary theory hundreds or even thousands of years earlier?

As quantum computers mature, they will be transformational. But there are good reasons why we don’t yet know exactly which problems they will excel at – and that makes them all the more exciting

Image: Sombrero Galaxy

Water falls on Earth every day as rain, and now scientists seem to have found a way of using it to create renewable electricity

Leaked budget documents indicate that key NASA and NOAA research projects, such as crucial climate research and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, are at risk of being defunded in 2026

Astronomers at the International Astronomical Union report that we have now detected more than 200 gravitational-wave events, most the merger of two black holes.

The post Status Report: Gravitational Waves appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The Perseids peak on Sunday night, August 11-12 and just might be joined by a colorful display of northern lights. 

The post Tonight's Perseid Meteor Shower May Be Dipped in Aurora Sauce appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

It's time again for the annual August meteor-shower fest, the Perseids. This year's display should be a beauty with only minor moonlight and a special surprise at dawn.

The post Woo-hoo — The Perseid Meteor Shower Is Coming! appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The Perseid meteor shower peaks late Sunday night August 11th and maybe Monday night too. Jupiter and Mars have a close conjunction on the morning of the 14th, looking radically different in the same telescopic view.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, August 9 – 18 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The year’s long-awaited Perseid meteor shower will be accompanied by a graceful planetary conjunction. It’s well worth staying up all night to watch.

The post Prepare for the Perseids and a Pretty Planetary Pairing appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Fifteen years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope gazed intently at the infrared glow of galaxies in a tiny fraction of the sky. New research shows how this patch of space has changed since then.

The post The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, 15 Years Later appeared first on Sky & Telescope.