CATEGORIES

15 AUTUMN STARGAZING TARGETS

Go on a night-sky treasure hunt as the brighter evenings give way to the cooler months

Weird 'watermelon-shaped' asteroids like Dimorphos and Selam may finally have an explanation

The unusual shapes of the tiny asteroids Dimorphos and Selam have perplexed astronomers for years, but a new study finally explains how they got so strange. It also suggests these bizarrely shaped 'moonlets' may be more common than scientists thought.

Ghostly 'zodiacal light' glows above the Very Large Telescope in Chile

A newly released image shows a colourful haze glowing above the Paranal Observatory in the Chilean Atacama Desert at sunset. The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) stands beneath a star-studded sky illuminated by a phenomenon known as zodiacal light, which is observed as a faint glow of diffuse light in the sky scattered by interplanetary dust.

NASA may use lasers to livestream from the Moon one day

Getting a live play-by-play of astronauts in space during future Artemis Moon missions could eventually be possible thanks to laser technology. NASA is testing a space communication method that, instead of using radio waves, uses a laser beam to connect Earth with astronauts on the Moon.

The Space Force is launching lasers into orbit

The Space Force aims to better pinpoint the location of Earth's true centre using lasers on GPS satellites, slated to launch in 2025. A set of Laser Retroreflector Arrays, or LRAS, will be installed onto two GPS III satellites, SV9 and SV10, as part of NASA's Space Geodesy Program. The lasers are designed to make precise sub-centimetre measurements using a technique called Satellite Laser Ranging, which will allow researchers to more accurately determine Earth's centre.

Eating too much sugar may accelerate cellular ageing

A nutrient-rich diet with few added sugars may slow the rate of biological ageing in women. Scientists found that middle-aged women who ate more foods packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants had 'younger looking' cells than those who consumed less nutrient-rich diets.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE WHY IS VENUS SO DRY?

A new study reckons the answer lies high in the Venusian atmosphere

Scientists achieve record-breaking data transmission speeds

Researchers have achieved record-breaking fibre-optic data transfer speeds of 402 terabits per second, roughly 1.6 million times faster than typical home broadband speeds. Scientists at Aston University in the UK achieved these new speeds by tapping into all the wavelength bands used in commercially available fibreoptic cables. Only one or two bands are used in most fibre-optic broadband connections.

T. rex could have been 70 per cent bigger

There's no denying that Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the biggest dinosaurs to ever walk the planet. But how big could this dinosaur get? In a new investigation, researchers attempted to answer that. Palaeontologists from the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa estimated that the largest T. rex may have tipped the scales at a whopping 15,000 kilograms, making it heavier than an average school bus, which weighs about 11,000 kilograms.

BECOME A SMARTPHONE SCIENTIST

Amazing tips and tricks to transform your smartphone into a bug-finding, star-spotting, data-gathering device

NASA'S PERSEVERANCE ROVER FINDS POSSIBLE SIGNS OF ANCIENT RED PLANET LIFE

Further analysis is needed, but a rock contains potential evidence that life once existed on Mars in the distant past

BOEING NEEDS TO IMPROVE QUALITY CONTROL ON THE SLS MOON ROCKET

The NASA Inspector General's report finds serious quality-control issues affecting the upgraded version and expects cost overruns and delays

'Hypervirulent' superbug detected in 16 countries

Dangerous new strains of a \"hypervirulent' superbug have been found in 16 countries, including the US, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in a new report.

ALL ABOUT FAT

Fat is a complex, active organ. Here's how genetics, evolution, lifestyle and diet dictate how much we have beneath our skin

DARK ENERGY

THE MOST DOMINANT FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE IS ALSO ITS MOST MYSTERIOUS AND MOST UNANTICIPATED

Racing to save the planet

A new hydrogen-powered racing car has been unveiled.

HEADSCRATCHERS

Seeking answers to your science questions? Ask our resident expert, Peter Gallivan

KILLER INSTINCT

Step into the wild - if you dare - with JD Savage to discover how nature's ultimate predators use astonishing skills and cunning tactics to catch prey and dominate their domains.

Angkor Wat

Discover the many secrets surrounding this ancient site.

Would you eat insects to save the planet?

Some say you should be eating beetles for breakfast and locusts for lunch.

Why are people allergic to things?

Find out why your body is sensitive to some substances.

Chimpanzees chat just like humans

Scientists know that chimpanzees are a lot like humans – we both have a common ancestor and share about 98.6% of our DNA (a special chemical that tells your body how to grow and develop).

Secret caverns found on the Moon

Could Moon caves provide shelter for future humans?

WHIZ KIDS

Claire Karwowski asks what makes people tick and if there is a secret to being smart.

Big Manny

Meet social media's science sensation.

Inside The Sky At Night - Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST

Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST. In July's Sky at Night, we discovered what she's learned since then.

Where Have All The Milky Way's Early Stars Gone?- Our Galaxy has a curious lack of pristine stars

The Big Bang produced a Universe filled almost exclusively with hydrogen and helium; all other elements - what astronomers call metals - were produced by stars, supernovae and everything that happens later. So if you can pick out a pristine star with no metals polluting it from among the billions in the Milky Way, then you are likely to have a star dating from our Galaxy's earliest days.

Could We Find Aliens by Looking for Their Solar Panels?- Designed to reflect ultraviolet and infrared, the panels have a unique fingerprint

Researchers searching for life beyond Earth spend a lot of time thinking about what telltale signs might be detectable astronomically. Forms of unambiguous evidence for the presence of life on another world are known as biosignatures. By extension, techno signatures are indicators of activity by intelligent, civilisation-building life.

Antimatter- In our continuing series, Govert Schilling looks at antimatter, the strange counterpart to most of the matter filling our Universe

Particles and corresponding antiparticles are very much alike, except they have opposite electrical charges. For instance, the antiparticle of the electron - known as the positron - has the same tiny mass, but while electrons carry a negative electrical charge, positrons are positively charged.

Flying over TITAN

Ezzy Pearson reports on NASA's Dragonfly, the first-ever science mission to fly on another world, which is set to soar over Saturn's largest moon in search of the elements of life