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We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
By Andrew Grant and Thomas Sumner - Astronomy
Using general relativity to magnify the cosmos
Astronomers have Einstein to thank for the tools that bring far-away galaxies and maybe even black hole collisions into view.
- Particle Physics
Discovery of neutrino mass earns 2015 physics Nobel
The discovery that subatomic particles called neutrinos have mass has won Takaaki Kajita of the University of Tokyo and Arthur McDonald of Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, the 2015 Nobel Prize in physics.
By Andrew Grant - Science & Society
Centennial books illuminate Einstein’s greatest triumph
Scholars mark general relativity 100ths anniversary with books on history, biography, science.
- Astronomy
Einstein’s genius changed science’s perception of gravity
Einstein struggled for years to solve the puzzle of general relativity. The pieces all fell into place in November 1915.
- Astronomy
First stars may lurk in our galactic neighborhood
Representatives from the first generation of stars might be hiding in our cosmic backyard, masked by interstellar pollution.
- Planetary Science
Ceres mountains and craters named for food
A host of agricultural spirits are immortalized on several craters and mountains on the dwarf planet Ceres.
- Planetary Science
Salt streaks sign of present-day water flows on Mars
Salt deposits on Mars hint at contemporary seasonal water flows on the Red Planet.
- Planetary Science
Salt streaks point to present-day water flows on Mars
Salt deposits on Mars hint at contemporary seasonal water flows on the Red Planet.
- Planetary Science
67P reveals recipe for a comet
Rosetta’s comet 67P probably started out as two smaller comets.