CATEGORIES

THE UNEXPECTED RETURN OF PNEUMATIC TUBES

Once a pioneering technology that revolutionised deliveries, pneumatic tubes had all but disappeared. Now they're back and enjoying a resurgence

Do We Finally Know How the Egyptian Pyramids Were Built? - A number of breakthrough studies are beginning to paint a picture of how these wonders of the world were built, but much of the story still remains a mystery...

A number of breakthrough studies are beginning to paint a picture of how these wonders of the world were built, but much of the story still remains a mystery...How the Egyptian pyramids were built has long been a mystery. Constructed as tombs for the pharaohs over 4,000 years ago, more than 100 of them remain. The largest one, the Great Pyramid of Giza, was originally 147m tall (482ft). It's made up of about 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tonnes, and would have had to be transported to the building site and lifted into place with techniques available at the time. To put this into context, it's akin to lifting a double-decker London bus to the top of St Pauls Cathedral a few million times.

How Light's 'Secret Code' Reveals the Story of the Cosmos- The starlight we can see tells us a lot about the Universe, but it's the parts we can't see that contain the biggest revelations

When you see photos from a modern telescope of a planet, nebula or distant galaxy, it's easy to be dazzled by the detail. But what astronomers get really excited about is a property of the light our eyes can't see: the spectrum. This secret code embedded in starlight can tell us not only what a celestial object is made of, but also the story of our cosmic past.Back in the 18th century, scientists discovered that each substance produced its own pattern of colours when it was burning. It turns out that each element, when heated, emits light at certain colours specific to that substance.

An Artificial Heart Inspired by Plumbing - Mechanical circulation could revolutionise transplant design and reduce waiting lists

Mechanical circulation could revolutionise transplant design and reduce waiting lists. In July, this artificial heart was successfully implanted, for the first time, into a patient with end-stage heart failure. Built by The Texas Heart Institute (THI) and BiVACOR, the replacement organ has been dubbed the Total Artificial Heart (TAH). Although, being an implant rather than transplant, it's designed to temporarily support patients while they wait for a real heart transplant.

Major Stonehenge Discovery Deepens Mystery Around Ancient Monument - New findings suggest a key six-tonne stone came from over 450 miles north of the circle

Cue the conspiracy theories: new research reveals that one of Stonehenge's central and larger megaliths came neither from England, nor Wales, but from the far northeast of Scotland - and we don't know how it got there. Experts think the six-tonne altar stone must have been dragged or floated at least 750km (466 miles) south to complete the prehistoric monument.

JUPITER KING OF PLANETS

Blast off with BBC Sky At Night's Ezzy Pearson as she takes you on a voyage to explore the largest planet in our solar system.

A visitor from outer space

Scientists have spent years looking for alien life, but what if it found us first?

Space toilets

Doing your business in space is not as easy as you might think.

What are wormholes?

Find out if space has secret passages that give shortcuts through the universe.

Is gaming good for you?

Gaming is great fun, but some worry it could be bad for young people's health.

TITANS

The biggest dinosaurs grew to truly epic proportions. Peter Gallivan tells the super-sized tale of these giant reptiles and discovers why they grew so large.

Gladys West

Meet the hidden figure behind the navigation system in your smartphone.

Ancient Egyptians may have used a hydraulic lift to build the first pyramid

Ancient Egyptians may have used an elaborate hydraulic system to construct the world's first pyramid. Known as the Pyramid of Djoser, the step pyramid was built around 4,700 years ago on the Saqqara plateau, an archaeological site in northern Egypt.

Webb confirms the earliest known galaxy is erupting in stars

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the earliest galaxy ever seen, and its unusually bright light is coming from a bizarre frenzy of star formation. Named JADES-GS-z14-0, the galaxy formed at least 290 million years after the Big Bang and contains stars that have been bursting into life since an estimated 200 million years after our universe began.

Sapphires form inside volcanoes, not deep in the mantle

Brilliant-blue sapphires look like bits of sky brought down to Earth, but a new study finds these gemstones are from a different boundary: the one between the planet's crust and magma welling up from the mantle, Earth's middle layer. Sapphires have been thought to form in the mantle itself or in the lower sections of the crust.

WHAT IS SUNBURN?

How solar rays can leave us red, sore and irritated

URBAN WILDLIFE

How wild animals have evolved to thrive alongside humans in towns and cities

BUILDING ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER

One World Trade Center rose from the ashes of the Twin Towers. Now, as the tallest building in New York City, it looks to the skies and the future. Here's how this sustainable and secure record-breaker was built

LIFTING THE LID ON ANTARCTICA

What was the coldest continent like without ice?

NEANDERTHAL LIVING

Why our prehistoric cousins were pioneers, not clueless apes

RESCUE IN SPACE

Fortunately, space emergencies are a rare occurrence, but astronauts and space agencies need to be prepared for any eventuality that might arise

Hubble spots a stunning spiral galaxy shining in the 'Little Lion'

From its vantage point in low-Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an intricate portrait of NGC 3430, a classic spiral galaxy that resides 100 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Leo Minor.

Mars Express takes a deep dive into an ancient lake

A Mars orbiter has taken a deep dive into an ancient Martian lake - figuratively, at least. Larger than any lake currently on Earth, the dried-up remnants of this ancient lakebed were captured in incredible detail by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003. \"This patch of Mars - shown in a new view from Mars Express' High-Resolution Stereo Camera - is known as Caralis Chaos,\" ESA scientists said. \"We believe that water, and a lot of it, once existed here.\"

An ocean's worth of water may be buried within Mars, but can we get to it?

Enough water to cover the surface of Mars has been discovered within the crust of the Red Planet by NASA's InSight mission. However, the ocean is buried several kilometres underground. Insight touched down in the Elysium Planitia region on Mars in November 2018 and maintained its mission for four years.

Jupiter's surreal clouds swirl in a new view from NASA's Juno probe

Vivid clouds swirl across Jupiter's skies like colourful brush strokes across a painting in a new photo from NASA's Juno spacecraft.

A NASA TELESCOPE MAY HAVE FOUND ANTIMATTER ANNIHILATING IN POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST EXPLOSION SINCE THE BIG BANG

The massive explosion was captured in 2022

Jameel Janjua "This is how we get to Mach 3”

Jameel Janjua made it to the bitter end in a Canadian government astronaut selection in 2009, but wasn't chosen. He found a different path to space through Virgin Galactic

THE MOON'S THIN ATMOSPHERE IS MADE BY CONSTANT METEORITE BOMBARDMENT

While the solar wind also contributes to the atmosphere, meteorites are the main culprit

INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL AND HOW TO BECOME A SPACE TOURIST

Having explored much of the Solar System, attention is now turning to the stars beyond

WHEN BLACK HOLES TURN WHITE

Can bouncing black holes help physicists find the ultimate theory of everything?