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Mathematicians have unraveled a key conjecture about knot theory

Less than three weeks since the first MetOp Second Generation weather satellite, MetOp-SG-A1, was launched, this remarkable new satellite has already started transmitting data from two of its cutting-edge instruments, offering a tantalising glimpse of what’s to come.

Wait wait wait. There are other, less stressful options. I don’t want to end on such a downer note. There is hope for us yet!

For nearly a century, cosmologists have relied on a simplified model of the universe that treats matter as uniform particles that don't interact with each other. While this approach helped scientists understand the Big Bang and the expansion of space, it ignores a fundamental reality, that our universe is anything but uniform. Stars cluster into galaxies, matter collapses into black holes, and vast empty voids stretch across space, all constantly interacting through gravity and other forces.

When most stars like the Sun die, they don't go out with a bang, they fade away as white dwarf stars, Earth-sized remnants that slowly cool over billions of years. For decades, it was thought these stellar corpses were poor candidates for hosting life because they cool predictably, giving any orbiting planets only brief windows in the "habitable zone" where liquid water could exist. But new research suggests this assumption may be fundamentally wrong.

September’s night sky features the iconic Summer Triangle, almost directly overhead at nightfall, and a newcomer to the evening sky: the planet Saturn, which will rise in the east not long after sunset. Get tips for viewing these and lots more stargazing info by downloading this month’s Sky Tour podcast!

The post September Podcast: Hello, Saturn! appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

What's hovering above the Sun?

People who do several very short bouts of strenuous activity each day are much less likely to die in the next few years than those who do no exercise at all

People who do several very short bouts of strenuous activity each day are much less likely to die in the next few years than those who do no exercise at all

You can feast guilt-free on farmed oysters and mussels as their production can have environmental benefits – but those probably don't include capturing carbon

You can feast guilt-free on farmed oysters and mussels as their production can have environmental benefits – but those probably don't include capturing carbon

That the human mind treads a delicate line between order and disorder is a radical idea that’s gaining traction - and is changing our understanding of intelligence, consciousness and creativity

That the human mind treads a delicate line between order and disorder is a radical idea that’s gaining traction - and is changing our understanding of intelligence, consciousness and creativity

The European spacecraft en route to Jupiter, named JUICE, completed its only flyby of the planet Venus

The post Jupiter-bound Probe Flies By Venus appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Our social voyeurism may have deep evolutionary roots

Authors including literary heavyweight Ian McEwan and big hitters John Scalzi, Yume Kitasei and Cixin Liu have new sci-fi novels out this month

Authors including literary heavyweight Ian McEwan and big hitters John Scalzi, Yume Kitasei and Cixin Liu have new sci-fi novels out this month

A new concept for a next generation space telescope could provide an affordable breakthrough in the hunt for Earth's twin.

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft sometimes lies directly between the sun and Earth, making it ideally placed to analyse powerful solar storms that could damage electronic systems on our planet

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft sometimes lies directly between the sun and Earth, making it ideally placed to analyse powerful solar storms that could damage electronic systems on our planet