Sign Up for Our Amazing Newsletter!
A daily update by email. Science news, great photos, sky alerts.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
How many genes to make a person?
The answer – fewer than are in a banana – has implications for the study of human health and raises questions about what generates complexity anyway.
October 23, 2016
Have you seen Venus?
Venus is the brightest planet, 3rd-brightest object in our sky after the sun and moon. You can't miss it in the west after sunset.
October 23, 2016
Boom! Orbiter spies crash site on Mars
Images from space show a dark spot on Mars' surface where none was seen before, thought to be where the Schiaparelli lander crashed on Mars last Wednesday.
October 22, 2016
More evidence for a 9th planet
Is a hypothetical large planet - far beyond Neptune - causing a tilt in the sun? Plus, evidence for a 9th planet based on "extreme Kuiper Belt objects."
October 21, 2016
Tiny tarsier is our distant cousin
This little guy looks like a big-eyed mouse, but a new genetic analysis puts tarsiers on the branch of the primate evolutionary tree that leads to great apes and humans.
October 21, 2016
Asgardia: Space nation or pie in sky?
"I have become citizen number 62 of Asgardia, a new space nation dedicated to expanding peaceful exploration of space for the benefit of humanity."
October 20, 2016
If we could see Mars in ultraviolet …
We'd see how winds circulate at high altitudes, and how ozone amounts change over the seasons, and how afternoon clouds form over giant Martian volcanoes. Images here.
October 20, 2016
Hot Jupiters’ cloudy nights, blistering days
The distant exoplanets known as "hot Jupiters" orbit their stars so tightly that they're perpetually charbroiled. Plus they keep one face toward their stars.
October 20, 2016
ESA’s Mars craft landed, but not softly
"We have data coming back that allow us to fully understand the steps that did occur, and why the soft landing did not occur.” Meanwhile, the orbiter is A-OK.
October 20, 2016
Juno in safe mode for Jupiter flyby
A sudden safe mode halted planned data collection during the spacecraft's perijove - or closest point to Jupiter - on October 19. Next perijove December 11.
October 19, 2016
