All Stories by Lisa Grossman
- Earth
It’s electric! Long-sought new field found in Earth’s atmosphere
This ambipolar electric field is weak. Yet it’s still strong enough to control the evolution of Earth’s upper atmosphere — and maybe life as we know it.
- Artificial Intelligence
Two AI trailblazers win the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics
John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton used brain-like networks based on principles of physics to jump-start machine learning.
- Planets
‘Percy,’ NASA’s rover, finds its first hint of ancient life on Mars
The robot examined a Mars rock containing organic compounds and “leopard spots.” On Earth, such spots usually come from microbial life.
- Space
Here’s why some shooting stars have long-lasting afterglows
Atmospheric chemistry is the most important factor in determining which meteors leave behind these persistent trails.
- Space
James Webb telescope catches newborn stars sculpting spiral galaxies
Dark voids riddle the galaxies, revealing new details about how stars alter their environments.
- Space
The next astronauts to walk the moon will be more diverse than the last
Space agencies are preparing to send the next generation of astronauts to the moon and beyond. Here’s how future crews will differ from the last.
- Planets
Saturn’s moon Enceladus wears a thick blanket of snow
Pits on the frosty moon reveal the snow’s surprising depth, up to 700 meters (2,300 feet) in some places.
- Planets
The dwarf planet Quaoar hosts an impossible ring
Quaoar’s ring lies outside the Roche limit. That’s an imaginary line beyond which rings aren’t thought to be stable.
- Space
Jets may have sculpted rings of Cat’s Eye nebula
The Cat’s Eye nebula is one of the most complex of its kind. A 3-D model now reveals the source of that complexity.
- Space
NASA’s DART spacecraft successfully bumped an asteroid onto a new path
The spacecraft’s intentional crash into an asteroid changed the space rock’s orbit by more than 30 minutes — far more than expected.
- Space
A missing moon could have given Saturn its rings — and tilt
The hypothetical moon is being called Chrysalis. It could have helped tip the planet over before getting shredded to form Saturn’s rings.
- Space
Awesome! Here are the James Webb Space Telescope’s first pictures
The first image shows ancient galaxies. Some reveal light that has been traveling 13 billion years to reach us.
