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

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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

Top Stories

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

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" Mark Popinchalk, contract writer

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 Thomas Zurbuchen, expert writer; Nadia Drake

How Ancient Humans Interpreted the Cosmos Archaeoastronomers piece together how people understood the heavens thousands of years ago. Kata Karáth; Rachel Feltman; Madison Goldberg, contract writer; Kelso Harper; Jeffery DelViscio

Moon 'Spiders' Suggest Extensive Underground Lunar Caves Newfound spiderlike features suggest lunar explorers should watch their step Theo Nicitopoulos

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 Meghan Bartels

Experiments Prepare to Test Whether Consciousness Arises from Quantum Weirdness Researchers wish to probe whether consciousness has a basis in quantum mechanical phenomena Hartmut Neven, expert writer; Christof Koch

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 Phil Plait

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 Saima S. Iqbal, intern writer

These 352 Asteroids Likely Have Cute Little Moonlets Identifying asteroids with potential moons could aid researchers in understanding unique aspects of our solar system Kate Graham-Shaw

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. Samia Bouzid; Katie Hafner; Laura Isensee; The Lost Women of Science Initiative

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