Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Water’s role in Martian chemistry becoming clearer
As mission nears end, Phoenix Mars Lander finds strong evidence for minerals similar to those formed on Earth by liquid water.
- Space
Hubble suddenly quiet
Updated September 30: After the orbiting observatory suddenly stopped transmitting data, NASA announced planned repair mission will be delayed at least until early next year
- Space
With a twinkle, pulsating stars could deliver signals from E.T.
Neutrino beams may turn Cepheids into messengers for advanced alien civilizations.
- Space
Galaxies on the move
Scientists discover "dark flow" -- the unexplained streaming of galactic clusters across the universe.
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- Earth
Tough meteorite made a big impact
The stony meteorite that landed in a remote portion of Peru in September 2007 was traveling abnormally fast when it struck and blasted a crater that was unusually large for the its size, new analyses indicate.
- Physics
Photons caught in the act
Physicists manipulated a microwave pulse and could essentially watch it transition from a quantum state into the realm of classical physics.
- Space
Lowdown on the sun
The current solar minimum is the lowest — and one of the longest — recorded in the past 50 years, since modern measurements began.
- Space
Large Hadron Collider shuts down early for the winter
CERN announces that needed repairs, plus high fuel costs, will delay the first planned collisions until next spring.
- Planetary Science
Saturn’s rings may not be as young as they look
Saturn's rings might be more massive, and thus older, than researchers had believed.
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- Planetary Science
Racing against the Martian winter
With solid findings under its belt and the Martian summer waning, the Phoenix Mars lander perseveres in its study of the soil and sky of the planet’s arctic plain.
