Space & Physics: What if we never find dark matter?

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August 22—This week, the curious deep-space origins of a dinosaur-dooming space rock, and a novel explanation for the Wow! signal (an infamous candidate alien transmission detected in 1977). Plus, the uncertain future of dark-matter searches, how to see sunspots, and much, much more. Enjoy! --Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space and Physics

Top Stories

We Know the Origins of the Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs New evidence points to a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer solar system as the culprit for Earth's most recent mass extinction Lee Billings

The Wow! Signal Might Not Have Been Aliens—But a Weird Cosmic Outburst A new explanation for the Wow! signal suggests it was a chance detection of a furious flare crashing into a hydrogen cloud. But some researchers doubt that this idea has truly cracked the case Robin George Andrews

What If We Never Find Dark Matter? Dark matter has turned out to be more elusive than physicists had hoped Tracy R. Slatyer; Tim M. P. Tait

How to See Sunspots with Your Own Eyes Surging solar activity means enormous sunspots are in the space-weather forecast. Here's how to view them safely Phil Plait

High-Dimensional Sudoku Puzzle Proves Mathematicians Wrong about Long-Standing Geometry Problem Mathematicians reveal that tiling your multidimensional bathroom will lead to never-ending disorder Max Springer, intern writer

How the Search for Aliens Is Redefining Life in the Golden Age of Astrobiology The search for extraterrestrial life has profound physical, mental and spiritual implications, says Nathalie Cabrol in The Secret Life of the Universe—and it belongs to everyone Zane Wolf, intern writer

Europe's JUICE Jupiter Probe Zooms past the Moon in Historic Flyby The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft took a shortcut to the giant planet by way of the Earth and the moon Mike Wall; SPACE.com

Can Space and Time Exist as Two Shapes at Once? Mind-Bending Experiments Aim to Find Out Proposed experiments will search for signs that spacetime is quantum and can exist in a superposition of multiple shapes at once Nick Huggett; Carlo Rovelli

Review: How a Group of Women Launched Modern Cosmology A new biography of astronomer Henrietta Leavitt celebrates meaning making in science Lucy Tu

Poem: 'Rocket Launch Laconic' Science in meter and verse Julie Dillemuth

New Satellite Will Track Methane Super Emitters Tanager-1 is the first in a series of satellites that aim to pinpoint major emitters of carbon dioxide and methane, major greenhouse gases Sara Schonhardt; E&E News

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

The Paradox of 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + … Why a mathematician thought this infinite series explained how God created the universe Jack Murtagh

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