Space & Physics: BREAKING—NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope launches to space

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August 30—BREAKING—The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:26 A.M. EDT on Sunday, August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. NASA’s newest telescope is officially on its way to deep space after more than a decade of development and high anticipation. Watch footage of the launch and read more about the Roman telescope on our website. Send your thoughts and questions to me at lbillings@sciam.com, or find me on X or Bluesky. —Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Physical Sciences *This is a special, breaking news edition of our space & physics newsletter.*

NASA’s Roman Telescope lifts off, starting a mission to explore the universe’s biggest mysteries The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope will probe dark matter and dark energy, discover exoplanets and study stars

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NASA’s newest telescope is about to rewrite how we study the universe Astronomers are lining up to leverage NASA’s soon-to-launch Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which boasts capabilities unlike any previous off-world observatory Jonathan O'Callaghan

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Ten cosmic discoveries we’ll get from NASA’s Roman Space Telescope NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will open a whole new window on the cosmos. Here are 10 things it’s likely to show us Joseph Howlett

Can NASA’s Roman Space Telescope solve the biggest problem in the universe? The more scientists try to understand dark energy, the more its mysteries seem to grow. NASA’s newest space telescope is custom-built to crack the case Meghan Bartels

To see exoplanets, NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will throw shade on stars NASA’s newest major observatory will include the most advanced planet-imaging tech ever flown in space. Here’s how it works Phil Plait

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could find alien Earths—but not like you think The Roman Space Telescope will spend more than a quarter of its time staring at the Milky Way’s bulge, a star-packed central region of our galaxy that may swarm with small, rocky exoplanets Adam Kovac

Something Is Wrong with Dark Energy, Physicists Say Cosmic surveys suggest the force pulling the universe apart might not be constant after all Rebecca Boyle

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How sharp are your logic and reasoning? Find out with this special issue of Today in Science ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­

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August 30, 2026—Let's see how sharp your logic and reasoning skills are! This is a special Sunday edition of Today in Science. Challenge your brain with this month's most popular games and puzzles. We'll be back tomorrow with our normal newsletter. —Andrea Gawrylewski Chief Newsletter Editor WORD PUZZLES ​ Spellements: Build as many words as possible using the middle letter. Can you find any words that incorporate all the letters? Hint: one is featured in a recent Scientific American article. Play a science crossword that ties into stories from the September 2026 issue of Scientific American. Read it here. MATH PUZZLE In Tetris, players try to efficiently pack a rectangular space with pieces that can have seven different shapes. As it happens, if you have exactly one of each of those seven possible pieces, then it is impossible to arrange them into a rectangle. But there is one piece you can discard that will allow you to make such an arrangement. Which piece must be discarded? Find any rectangular arrangement of the remaining six pieces. ​ Just as in Tetris, you may rotate pieces but not reflect them. In other words, if the pieces were cutouts on a table, then you could slide them and spin them but never lift them off the table. Tip: you can determine the problematic piece in a principled way; it does not require trial and error.   Solution here.   LOGIC PUZZLES ​ Expert Sudoku: Fill each row, column and sub-grid with exactly one of each number from 1-9. Play (and reveal the solution) here. ​ Killer Sudoku: Fill each row, column and sub-grid with exactly one of each number from 1-9. In Killer Sudoku, the digits in each inner shape (marked by dots) must add up to the number in the top corner of that box. No digit can be repeated within an inner shape, row, column or sub-grid. Play (and reveal the solution) here. ​ KenKen 4x4: Fill each row and column with exactly one of each possible number—in this case, numbers 1 through 4. You are not allowed to repeat any number in the same row or column. Each inner shape (marked by the boundaries) has an associated number and an operation. The result of applying the operation to the digits within that shape must equal the associated number. Play (and reveal the solution) here. ​ KenKen 6x6: Same rules as the previous one, but this time fill each row and column with exactly one of each numbers 1 through 6, while adhereing to the internal calculations. Play (and reveal the solution) here. JIGSAW PUZZLE Unscramble our most popular jigsaw puzzle this month. This image of our April 1949 cover image shows a mechanical counting device, one of the revolutionary innovations designed to automate functions of the human brain. NEWS QUIZ How closely did you read Scientific American this month? Test your science chops with this month's most popular news quiz.

So many games, so little time! Do them all with a subscription to Scientific American. Try it out for 90 days for just $1! I hope you enjoyed this special weekend edition of Today in Science.  Reach the newsletter team with your questions, comments and other thoughts by emailing: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow!   —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

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