Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Oxygen leaking from comet surprises astronomers
The Rosetta spacecraft detected oxygen molecules coming out of comet 67P that might have been buried since the formation of the solar system.
- Planetary Science
Cassini preps to shower in Enceladus’ ocean
The Cassini spacecraft is gearing up for one last plunge through the water geysers on Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum interpretations feel the heat
Landauer’s principle shows a way to test competing interpretations about quantum physics.
- Planetary Science
Asteroid set for Halloween flyby
Large asteroid will pass Earth just beyond the moon’s orbit on Halloween.
- Astronomy
Comet carries alcohol, sugar
Sugar and alcohol are just two of the ingredients that go into making a comet.
- Astronomy
White dwarf upsets planetary system, consumes evidence
Rocky planets are disintegrating around a white dwarf, the core of a dead star.
- Astronomy
White dwarf upsets planetary system, consumes evidence
Rocky planets are disintegrating around a white dwarf, the core of a dead star.
- Astronomy
Dead stars team up for supernova explosions
Three type 1a supernovas show hints of being triggered by collisions between pairs of white dwarfs.
- Planetary Science
Five surprising discoveries about Pluto
Here are five key (though not necessarily new) findings in the paper that epitomize the surprising complexity of the Pluto system.
- Planetary Science
Ancient Mars had long-lasting lakes of liquid water
New evidence gathered by NASA’s Curiosity rover suggests Gale Crater once contained a stable lake of liquid water.
- Science & Society
Special Report: Gravity’s Century
After years of pondering the interplay of space, time, matter and gravity, Einstein produced, in a single month, an utter transformation of science’s conception of the cosmos: the general theory of relativity.
- Particle Physics
Neutrinos’ identity shift snares physics Nobel
Arthur McDonald and Takaaki Kajita shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery that neutrinos oscillate between different types, which demonstrates that the particles have mass.
