Space & Physics: Mars rock may hold signs of alien life

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August 1—This week, NASA quietly announced that it's found the best-yet Mars rock, dubbed Cheyava Falls, for determining whether or not the Red Planet ever hosted life. Also, the race to map hazardous and hard-to-see space junk, the sun's fresh outbursts of planet-engulfing solar flares, the quantum version of Zeno's Paradox, and more. Enjoy! --Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space and Physics

Top Stories

This Is the Most Exciting Rock Ever Found on Mars Mysterious "leopard spots" on a Martian rock could be evidence of extraterrestrial life—or of mere lifeless chemistry. Finding out the truth may require bringing the rock back to Earth Lee Billings

Scientists Race to Map Dangerous Ultrasmall Space Junk An ambitious U.S. government program is working to detect and track millions of tiny space junk pieces—down to the size of a sand grain—throughout low-Earth orbit and beyond Sharmila Kuthunur

Expect Auroras, Solar Flares and More Space Weather from the Solar Maximum Space weather is heating up in our current solar cycle peak Clara Moskowitz; Matthew Twombly

Quantum Physics Has Reopened Zeno's Paradoxes For thousands of years, scholars pondered the question of how anything can move in our world. The problem seemed to have been solved—until the development of quantum mechanics Manon Bischoff

NASA Retires Asteroid-Hunting Telescope NASA's NEOWISE telescope has searched for asteroids, brown dwarfs and luminous galaxies. The spacecraft will soon burn up in Earth's atmosphere Meghan Bartels

How to See Stars, Satellites, and More in the Daytime Sky It's possible to see celestial objects during the day, but it's not always easy Phil Plait

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

How Analyzing Cosmic Nothing Might Explain Everything Huge empty areas of the universe called voids could help solve the greatest mysteries in the cosmos Michael D. Lemonick

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