Thursday, August 8, 2024

Space & Physics: More solar flares and auroras are on the way

August 8—This week, slime mold is helping map the formation of the universe, spiderlike structures suggest there are caves on the moon, and we're in for more exciting space weather. All that and more below!

--Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor


Slime Mold Helps to Map the Universe's Tendrils of Dark Matter

A single-celled organism's pathfinding reveals connections in the universe's vast "cosmic web"

NASA Losing VIPER Rover Defangs the Science from Planned Moon Landings

A former space agency official argues that cutting a robotic explorer pulls the scientific teeth from the Artemis program

How Ancient Humans Interpreted the Cosmos

Archaeoastronomers piece together how people understood the heavens thousands of years ago.

Moon 'Spiders' Suggest Extensive Underground Lunar Caves

Newfound spiderlike features suggest lunar explorers should watch their step

How NASA's Stranded Starliner Astronauts Could Fly Home with SpaceX

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck on the ISS since they launched to the station in early June. Now the space agency is close to deciding how to bring them back

Experiments Prepare to Test Whether Consciousness Arises from Quantum Weirdness

Researchers wish to probe whether consciousness has a basis in quantum mechanical phenomena

How Do Stars Really Die?

There's more than one way for a star to die. Some go with a whimper, and some go with a very, very big bang

A 'Neutrino Fog' Is Starting to Cloud the Search for Dark Matter

With the detection of a long-predicted "neutrino fog," the search for particles of dark matter has entered a new age of both possibility and peril

These 352 Asteroids Likely Have Cute Little Moonlets

Identifying asteroids with potential moons could aid researchers in understanding unique aspects of our solar system

This Researcher Helped Create a Machine to Pursue the 'Quest for Everything'

Helen Edwards was a particle physicist who led the design and construction of the Tevatron, a machine built to probe deeper into the atom than anyone had gone before.

Scientist Pankaj

Today in Science: Your brain really does choke under pressure

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