All Stories by Lisa Grossman
- Chemistry
Astronauts may be able to make cement using their own pee
Lunar dust and a compound found in urine could be used to build future dwellings on the moon, a new study finds.
- Space
The closest black hole to Earth may have been spotted 1,000 light-years away
What appears to be the closest black hole to the solar system shares orbits with two massive stars, a new study finds.
- Planetary Science
Planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres could harbor life
Lab experiments show yeast and E. coli survive and reproduce in hydrogen gas, suggesting new environments to seek alien life.
- Astronomy
The sun is less magnetically active than similar stars, and we don’t know why
Why our star seems so different from its stellar kin is a mystery.
- Physics
A year after the first black hole image, the EHT has been stymied by the coronavirus
With this year’s observing run canceled due to the coronavirus, the Event Horizon Telescope team is analyzing data from 2017 and 2018.
- Space
Red giant stars that eat planets might shine less brightly
Some stars may shine less brightly after ingesting a planet. That finding, if confirmed, could have implications for calculating cosmic distances.
- Space
Saturn’s auroras may explain the planet’s weirdly hot upper atmosphere
Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft could help solve Saturn’s mysterious “energy crisis.”
- Space
Quasar winds with record energy levels were seen fleeing a distant galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope has seen the most energetic quasar winds yet, showing these active black holes can blow star-forming gas out of galaxies.
- Planetary Science
If Pluto has a subsurface ocean, it may be old and deep
New analyses of images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft suggest that Pluto may have had a sea beneath its icy shell for roughly 4.5 billion years.
- Space
A controversial X-ray glow didn’t show up in the Milky Way’s dark matter halo
A new look at old data suggests that an odd X-ray glow that emanates from some galaxies cannot come from decaying dark matter.
- Planetary Science
The asteroid Ryugu has a texture like freeze-dried coffee
Only about half of the asteroid Ryugu is rock; the rest is airy holes, a finding that could help reveal details of how the planets formed.
- Planetary Science
Coronavirus and technical issues delay a Mars mission’s launch
The joint European-Russian ExoMars rover’s launch was postponed from July to 2022 so technicians could resolve issues with the landing equipment.
