Curiosity Is Using Sweet New Tools to Explore Martian Sand Dunes

Curiosity is busy poking and prodding the Bagnold Dunes, learning some new tricks in the first-ever interplanetary fieldwork on a sand dune. And of course it looks absolutely stunning while doing it in this latest sand dune selfie.

Forget Blue Origin vs. SpaceX - the real battle is between old and new ideas

Friday’s launch of the New Shepard rocket in West Texas renewed the tired debate about whether Blue Origin or SpaceX has achieved more in the reusable spaceflight game.

Black Hole Suns Could Support Weird Forms of Complex Life

Someone hug Interstellar’s science advisor. Just like in the film, a new study finds that a black hole with exactly the right temperature could serve as a cold sun and even support complex lifeforms.

New study zeros in on plate tectonics' start date: Analysis of trace elements places the onset of plate tectonics about 3 billion years ago

A new study suggests that plate tectonics -- the dynamic processes that formed Earth's mountains, volcanoes and continents -- began about 3 billion years ago. By analyzing trace element ratios that correlate to magnesium content in ancient Earth's crust, the researchers provide first-order geochemical evidence for when plate tectonics first got underway.

Pluto: Impact craters indicate heart-shaped Sputnik Planum is only 10 million years old

Pluto's heart-shaped Sputnik Planum region is only 10 million years old — far younger than the rest of the dwarf planet, according to a new study.

" Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars "
- Carl Sagan, Cosmos -

Searching for Another Earth Around a Neighboring Star

Are there Earth-like planets in a neighboring star system? A new campaign called “Pale Red Dot” aims to show the public in real-time how to push astronomy to its limits to possibly find out.

New theory of secondary inflation expands options for avoiding an excess of dark matter

A new theory suggests a shorter secondary inflationary period that could account for the amount of dark matter estimated to exist throughout the cosmos.

Signs of second largest black hole in the Milky Way: Possible missing link in black hole evolution

Astronomers using the Nobeyama 45-m Radio Telescope have detected signs of an invisible black hole with a mass of 100 thousand times the mass of the Sun around the center of the Milky Way.

Brightest-ever supernova still baffles astronomers

Origin of exploding star that is twice as luminous as any other remains unclear. Seven months after it was first spotted, a puzzle still hangs over the origin of the brightest supernova ever seen.

NASA's Juno probe sets solar power distance record en route to Jupiter

NASA launched the Juno spacecraft in 2011 on a mission to study Jupiter, and now the spacecraft is almost to its target. Before it reaches the gas giant, Juno has already made history as it sets the distance record for solar power.

String Theory Might Merge With the Other Theory of Everything

In the last few decades, researchers have pursued the problem in two separate programs—string theory and loop quantum gravity—that are widely considered incompatible by their practitioners. But now some scientists argue that joining forces is the way forward.

Stephen Hawking reckons he's cracked the black hole paradox

Last August, Stephen Hawking tantalised the world by saying he'd worked out a solution to the “black hole paradox”. He's now dropped the first detailed discussion of his hypothesis for the world to pore over, here at ArXiv in a paper entitled Soft hair on black holes.

The Future of Space Exploration

Astronauts and NASA personnel look the future and where they think the space program will go next.

Most distant massive galaxy cluster identified

Formed in the first 4 billion years of the universe, cluster is 1,000 times more massive than the Milky Way.