The Big Bang is often described as the explosive birth of the universe — a singular moment when space, time and matter sprang into existence. But what if this was not the beginning at all? What if our universe emerged from something else — something more familiar and radical at the same time? In a … Read more
After nearly a decade in orbit, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has, for the first time, directly observed the process that scientists had long suspected was responsible for stripping Mars of its atmosphere. The findings, published May 28 in the journal Science Advances, could help answer a longstanding question about how Mars transformed from a potentially habitable … Read more
In the last five years, the number of satellites orbiting Earth has more than doubled and will likely double again within a similar timespan, thanks to the efforts of private companies such as SpaceX. But while these spacecraft can provide important benefits, they are also causing multiple issues that are only just being realized by … Read more
Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet, used to be even bigger, according to a new study. The cloud of gas and dust from which the sun and planets formed dissipated around 4.5 billion years ago. At that time, Jupiter was at least twice its current size, and its magnetic field was about 50 times stronger, … Read more
China has launched its first cluster of satellites for a planned artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer constellation in space. The 12 satellites are the beginnings of a proposed 2,800-satellite fleet led by the company ADA Space and Zhejiang Lab that will one day form the Three-Body Computing Constellation, a satellite network that will directly process data … Read more
Scientists have uncovered fresh evidence that Venus is not dead — geologically speaking. Venus and Earth are similar in size and were bombarded by comparable amounts of water billions of years ago. This shared origin has long fueled one of planetary science’s biggest questions: Why did Venus become a hellish, uninhabitable world while Earth flourished … Read more
The moon spent a few million years as a volcanic wasteland, covered with ongoing eruptions that spewed from mountains and even from the ground itself. New research suggests that the moon’s orbit could have turned it into a molten monster for a few tens of millions of years. The result may have been comparable to … Read more
There might be a hidden ocean’s worth of liquid water below the surface of Mars, seismic evidence suggests. According to a new paper published April 25 in the journal National Science Review, recordings of seismic waves from deep within the Red Planet indicate that a layer of liquid water may be lurking in the Martian … Read more
The idea that Earth may operate as a single, self-regulating, living organism has existed for decades, emerging in the 1970s as the Gaia hypothesis. In this excerpt from “Gaia Wakes: Earth’s Emerging Consciousness in an Age of Environmental Devastation” (Columbia University Press, 2025), economic development and peacebuilding expert Topher McDougal describes how Earth might acquire … Read more
Constant gusts of particles from the sun may be creating water molecules on the moon, a new NASA-led experiment hints. Scientists have detected traces of water molecules — as well as hydroxyl (OH) molecules, a component of water — on the surface of the moon through multiple space missions. The source of this water has … Read more
