Exploring bleeding edge experiments, oddities, new and bizarre dicoveries, and fact-checking conspiracy theories since 2008. No question is out of bounds and no topic is too strange for a deep dive.
# space
Are two galaxies which seem to lack dark matter proof that dark matter must be a particle rather than a quirk of gravity at cosmic scales. Well, it's actually kind of complicated...
# space
If you imagine galaxies as tranquil clouds of gas and dust, lit up by billions of pinpoints of light, a 3D map of the Milky Way and the details behind it will show you otherwise.
# space
A binary system observed by ALMA isn’t wonky, it’s the first example of an anomaly we only thought was possible until we saw it with our own eyes: a polar protoplanetary disk.
# podcast
Just because the universe is dying doesn’t mean you and your civilization have to die with it, at least not if you’re ready to go stellar grave robbing.
# space
New observations of the center of our galaxy have, for the first time, revealed hotspots in the disk of chaotic gas orbiting our Milky Way’s supermassive black hole.
# space
How do we know what the insides of Venus or Jupiter look like? The short answer is that we don’t. The longer answer is that we make a fairly accurately guess.
# space
Black holes aren’t just the densest, most massive objects in space. They might also be some of the fastest.
# space
A new mission to Mercury will test a quirk of general relativity. It won’t be decisive and will involve a lot of precision measurement and tedious number-crunching. And it’s exactly the kind of science we should be encouraging.
# space
Nuclear pasta isn’t exactly an awe-inspiring name, but it may be the strongest substance in the universe and it’s found in only in the crust of neutron stars.
# space
Despite their fearsome reputation, we simply wouldn't exist without black holes.