NASA fires up Orion’s engines for critical test
NASA is sending humans back to the Moon. Nobody knows for sure whether that will happen in 2024 or a somewhat later date, but it’s …
Science
It took an incredibly long time for the Earth’s poles to flip
If you’re looking for some kind of apocalyptic scenario to get anxious about, the Earth’s poles flipping is as good a nightmare as any. Scientists …
New study paints a dire picture for football players, even when concussions are avoided
The NFL and college football have come under fire in recent years due to the mounting scientific evidence that shows the damage that can be …
NASA’s Curiosity rover stumbled upon a Martian rock that tells an incredible story
We tend to think of rocks as being, well, pretty boring. We find them pretty much everywhere here on Earth, and while some are neat …
NASA’s Spitzer just spotted a galaxy perfectly aligned with Earth
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is capable of capturing some truly stunning snapshots of distant features in space, and usually, when we see images of vast …
Watch SpaceX catch its rocket fairing in a massive net
After a number of delays due to hardware issues as well as bad weather, SpaceX finally managed to send the AMOS-17 communications satellite into Earth …
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover just had an eye exam
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is now less than one year away from finally being shot skyward toward the Red Planet, and NASA engineers are hard …
CDC shuts down military virus lab after failed safety inspection
When you’re handling some of the world’s most deadly viruses and bacteria, safety should always be a top priority, but apparently the staff of the …
NASA’s Cygnus cargo vessel just left the ISS, but its mission isn’t over yet
NASA’s NG-11 Cygnus resupply spacecraft spent over three months attached to the International Space Station, allowing crew members to carefully unload all supplies and experiments …
Crashed Israeli lunar lander left a bunch of microscopic ‘water bears’ on the Moon
It’s been a few months now since Israel’s Beresheet lunar lander experienced a last-second glitch and smashed into the Moon rather than landing softly on …
NASA’s Curiosity rover is celebrating seven incredible years on Mars
Earlier this year, NASA was forced to finally say goodbye to the trust Opportunity rover. It was a sad time for the space agency since …
Watch SpaceX launch the oft-delayed AMOS-17 satellite live right here
The AMOS-17 communications satellite should already be in space. The fact that it’s not is the result of a rare combination of technical hitches and …
Study details how radiation exposure will mess with Mars travelers’ minds
Pretend, for a moment, that you’re one of the first travelers taking a trip to Mars. What would be on your mind? Surely the journey …
Dog kisses blamed for devastating infection that cost a woman her hands and legs
Dogs are man’s best friend, but their mouths aren’t the most sterile things in the world. In fact, a dog’s mouth can be downright disgusting, …
NASA just received a major data dump from its mission to ‘Touch the Sun’
We’re rapidly approaching the one-year anniversary of the launch of NASA’s much-hyped mission to “Touch the Sun” with its Parker Solar Probe. The spacecraft is …
People keep finding frogs in their packaged salads
It sounds like an urban legend — a friend of a friend who knows someone who once took a bite of a live frog that …
SpaceX repairs and bad weather force multiple satellite launch delays
Sending stuff into space isn’t easy. SpaceX has made the process of making satellite deliveries into Earth orbit look incredibly easy, but there are still …
Scientists spotted an incredibly old star breathing its dying breath
Age is a relative thing. With our finite (and relatively short) lifespans, humans tend to think of anything older than 100 years as being “really …
An ancient Mars crater likely spawned a devastating mega-tsunami
The Mars we know today is dry, dusty, and (probably) devoid of life, but that wasn’t always the case. Scientists believe Mars was once a …
The most accurate model of our galaxy ever created shows the Milky Way is warped
Considering we can’t actually see the Milky Way from the outside — since, you know, we’re in it — astronomers know a surprising amount about …
E-scooters aren’t as green as you think
E-scooters have a very environmentally-friendly image. Tiny and battery-powered, they seem like a convenient, responsible alternative to making short trips in a car, but new …
Astronomers stumble upon a new kind of star, and it’s a heavy breather
Humans don’t yet possess the technology required to visit neighboring stars, but astronomers can still learn a great deal about them just by looking. The …
Watch ‘electrofishing’ boat stun hundreds of invasive carp in Kentucky
Invasive species can be a major problem no matter where they’re found, but for researchers trying to combat invasive fish species, the challenges are unique. …
Scientists just discovered a planet shaped like a football
If you were to make a list of exoplanets that would be worth visiting in person, WASP-121b wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of your …
Solar sails actually work, and LightSail 2 just proved it
The idea seems totally crazy: A spacecraft with no active propulsion system that can travel through space using light in the same way that a …
The first meals eaten on the Moon were truly bizzare
When you’re an astronaut, food options are somewhat limited during missions into space. You can’t exactly order in, and meals have to be preserved and …
NASA’s exoplanet hunter just spotted a ‘super Earth’ orbiting a nearby star
In its 15 months of service, NASA’s TESS exoplanet-hunting satellite has racked up many exciting exoplanet discoveries, but few show promise in the search for …
Smoke from fires in Africa fertilizes the Amazon over 6,500 miles away
It’s tempting to think that two locations separated by over 6,500 miles wouldn’t have much of an impact on one another, but nothing could be …
Russia just completed a particularly speedy resupply run to the International Space Station
It was just a few days ago that SpaceX shot one of its Dragon cargo ships into space, and it was packed with supplies for …
NASA wants you to come up with a way to send heavy stuff to the Moon
The NASA of today is a whole lot different than the agency that first sent humans to the Moon. While those projects were almost entirely …
