Astronomers spot new ultra-hot exoplanet twice the size of Earth
When astronomers search for exoplanets, the real goal is finding a distant world that might be within what scientists believe is the habitable zone. Those …
Articles by Mike Wehner
Astrophysicist scores $3 million prize over four decades after being snubbed for a Nobel
Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. Her career as a scientist and now a professor sort of speaks for itself, …
Scientists are now trying to clone the 40,000-year-old baby horse found frozen in Siberia
It was just a couple of weeks ago that the discovery of a frozen baby horse began to spread. The animal, which is thought to …
The dirtiest place in the airport probably isn’t what you think
Airports are packed with people coming and going at all hours of the day. Travelers, like all of us, are filthy humans that carry all …
NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler telescope wakes up once again to begin probing the depths of space
All eyes these days may be on NASA’s shiny new exoplanet hunter TESS, but the group’s Kepler space telescope still has some life left in …
This shark species doesn’t mind eating veggies once in a while
Sharks, the fearsome predators of the deep blue sea, are some of the most deadly animals on the planet. Their teeth are made for tearing …
Earthquake rocks Japan, causing mudslides and burying homes
A powerful 6.7-magnitude earthquake rocked the island of Hokkaido in Japan early today. Residents of the island, which is the northernmost large island of Japan, …
Hope dwindles as NASA’s Opportunity rover refuses to contact Earth
Time flies when you’re trying to message a rover that just won’t wake up. It’s now been nearly three full months since NASA has heard …
Scientists built a robot that hunts and kills starfish
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has seen better days. The massive natural wonder is dealing with the impacts of ocean warming (thanks to manmade climate change) …
There’s another weird hexagon forming on Saturn, and astronomers are scratching their heads
Saturn sure has a thing for peculiar shapes! Astronomers have known for some time that Saturn’s north pole has developed a very odd hexagonal shape. …
The hole in the International Space Station isn’t the first serious space misstep from Russian manufacturer
The saga of the hole in the International Space Station is taking some serious twists today, in the wake of yesterday’s declaration that it was …
Dozens more have gotten Salmonella from Kellogg’s Honey Smack cereal
It was all the way back in June that we first learned of a new Salmonella outbreak that was being linked to Kellogg’s Honey Smacks …
The massive iceberg that broke off Antarctica last year is now spinning for some reason
It’s now been well over a year since a colossal chunk of ice snapped off of the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica. The ice …
A 4-year-old girl has a life-threatening infection, and her mom is blaming a new pair of shoes
Kids have a habit of getting into precarious situations at a moment’s notice, but one place a parent probably wouldn’t expect danger to be lurking …
Japan is about to launch a mini space elevator that could be a sign of things to come
Getting into space can be a tricky thing. Right now, the hardware that can get you there — a rocket — is complex, pricey, and …
NASA might sell naming rights to missions and expand endorsements to raise money for new missions
Exploring space isn’t cheap. We live in an age where technology is allowing us to discover distant worlds and learn more about our neighboring planets …
That hole in the International Space Station was caused by a drill, not a meteorite, and the search is on for the culprit
Last week, astronauts aboard the International Space Station woke to an alarm warning them of a pretty serious situation. The space station was losing pressure, …
Hubble captures mysterious nebula in gorgeous new image
You might think that with so many telescopes at its disposal NASA and the astronomy community at large would have plenty of time to gaze …
NASA will pay you up to $750,000 to come up with a way to turn CO2 into other molecules on Mars
When NASA launches manned missions to space they have to bring just about everything along with them. You can’t reach out into space for resources …
It might be another 1,000 years before we can see the elusive ‘Planet Nine’
“Planet Nine,” the mythical hidden planet that may or may not be lurking in the very distant reaches of our Solar System, continues to avoid …
Saturn’s auroras sure do look pretty
Here on Earth, auroras are pretty neat sight to see. The phenomenon, commonly called the “Northern Lights,” is fairly well understood by scientists. They occur …
A big fake Moon is slowly making its way around the Earth
You probably don’t spare much thought for the Moon. I mean it’s there in the night sky, being all bright and cool and whatnot, but …
Japan just announced when it will attempt to land on an asteroid
It’s been about two months since Japan’s space program, JAXA, arrived at the asteroid known as Ryugu. The mission began way back in 2014, and …
NASA crosses its fingers as skies over its sleeping Opportunity rover continue to clear up
The saga of the Mars dust storm that may have killed NASA’s Opportunity rover may still come with a twist ending. The rover, which has …
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station had to plug this hole with their thumb
Yesterday, Russian space organization Roscosmos and the European Space Agency broke the news that the International Space Station had sprung a leak. That’s a pretty …
Freezing temperatures likely contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals
The amount of information we have about the human family tree is steadily growing, but there are still plenty of unanswered questions. One of the …
This 61-year-old man survived a great white shark attack by beating it up
An idyllic dip in the ocean off the coast of Massachusetts turned into an actual nightmare for 61-year-old William Lytton earlier this month. Without warning, …
Scientists think black holes could bring dead stars back to life as ‘zombies’
What happens when a star dies? When most stars exhaust their bountiful supply of energy they enter a state where they become white dwarfs. These …
A Harvard scientist built an AI that can predict earthquake aftershocks, with help from Google
Earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict. When they happen in a major city or populated area they can be utterly devastating, and warning people ahead …
The International Space Station has sprung a leak after being hit by a meteorite
When an alarm sounds in your office building you’ll probably just end up standing around in the parking lot for a few minutes while someone …
