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Science and Tech
A brief guide to habits that separate deep understanding from superficial knowledge — and how to cultivate them.
At extremely close distances to their stars, even rocky planets can be completely disintegrated. We've just caught our first one in action.
Ring galaxies are rare, but we think we know how they form. A new, early-stage version, the Bullseye galaxy, provides a new testing ground.
New research challenges old assumptions about the evolution of the human brain.
Here in our Solar System, terrestrial bodies get moons from gravitational capture or collisions. The Pluto-Charon system? It was both.
Only 5% of the Universe is made of normal "stuff" like we are. Could there be dark matter or dark energy life, or even aliens, out there?
Timothy Caulfield, a leading science communicator, discusses the challenges of combatting misinformation in an age of information overload.
Could AI develop true intelligence without sentience? Philosopher Jonathan Birch explores the boundaries of artificial and evolved minds.
When we divide matter into its fundamental, indivisible components, are those particles truly point-like, or is there a finite minimum size?
The ultimate multi-messenger astronomy event would have gravitational waves, particles, and light arriving all at once. Did that just occur?
Retrofitting America's aging dams for hydropower — while removing ecologically harmful ones — may be a productive path forward.
A young, nearby, massive star, whose protoplanetary disk appears perfectly edge-on, was just viewed by JWST, with staggering implications.
A new SETI study shows how far the field of technosignatures has come.
Historically, astronomers have often named things creatively, bizarrely, and often inaccurately. But which terms are the most egregious?
The artistic and the mathematical mind are not so far apart.
If we wish to tackle the very real problems society faces, we require expert-level knowledge. Valuing it starts earlier than we realize.
We need to fully acknowledge problems, while vigorously pursuing solutions. Call it “solutionism.”
The story of how the world high jump record was smashed in 1968 contains golden lessons for business and innovation.
Seeking life beyond the Solar System, we first look to the closest star systems with Earth-like planets. Here's why that's not good enough.
Our Moon is full of craters, basins, and ancient lava flows. But two large lunar Grand Canyons have the same origin: a single, giant impact.
Life may have arisen far earlier — and more rapidly — than previously thought.
There are only four super star clusters in all the Local Group: rarities today. Here's what the youngest, the just-discovered N79, shows us.
Here in our Universe, both normal and dark matter can be measured astrophysically. But only normal matter can collapse. Why is that?
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
With a flurry of threats to scientists, science funding, and health policy, the USA now faces a crisis reminiscent of Soviet-era Lysenkoism.
First discovered in the mid-1960s, no cosmic signal has taught us more about the Universe, or spurred more controversy, than the CMB.
Jotform CEO Aytekin Tank highlights an AI-powered pathway towards more productive and more creative teams.
From LIGO, there weren't enough neutron star-neutron star mergers to account for our heavy elements. With a JWST surprise, maybe they can.
"Ultimately, the choice rests with each individual: whether to take the convenient route of allowing AI to handle our critical thinking, or to preserve this essential cognitive process for ourselves."
It's the ultimate game of cosmic "cover up," as the dimming occurs when a circumbinary disk from a nearby star passes in front of T Tauri North.