Space & Physics: What happens if you get hit by space junk

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July 11—This week, what happens when you're unfortunate enough to be struck (or nearly so) by falling space junk. Also, Europe's new rocket, next-generation gravitational-wave observatories, potential solutions to the biggest problem in mathematics, and more. --Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space and Physics

Top Stories

A New, Deadly Era of Space Junk Is Dawning, and No One Is Ready A Saskatchewan farmer's near miss with potentially lethal debris falling from orbit highlights the skyrocketing risks and murky politics of space junk Samantha Lawler, expert writer

Europe's New Ariane 6 Rocket Launches at Last Europe rejoins the new space race with the launch of its long-awaited Ariane 6 rocket Mike Wall; SPACE.com

5 New Types of Gravitational-Wave Detectors Could Reshape Astrophysics With the confirmation of gravitational waves less than a decade old, scientists are barreling ahead with new detectors to pick up ever more elusive ripples in spacetime Davide Castelvecchi; Nature magazine

Can AI Save Schrödinger's Cat? Outcomes in quantum mechanics depend on observations. But must the observer be human? Anil Ananthaswamy

The Biggest Problem in Mathematics Is Finally a Step Closer to Being Solved Number theorists have been trying to prove a conjecture about the distribution of prime numbers for more than 160 years Manon Bischoff

The Head of NASA Science Spent a Whole Weekend Building a LEGO Rocket Scientific American sat down with Nicola Fox, head of NASA science, to talk about her LEGO-building hobby, the agency's massive Space Launch System rocket and the NASA science she's most excited about Meghan Bartels

How Light Tells Us the Story of the Universe Almost everything we know about the cosmos is conveyed by photons traveling across vast distances Phil Plait

The Face on Mars and Other Cases of Cosmic Pareidolia The human brain loves seeing patterns, even when they aren't really there Phil Plait

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