News
How astronomers plan to detect the signatures of alien life in the atmospheres of distant planets
3+ hour, 20+ min ago (894+ words) Astonishingly, we can identify molecules present in the atmospheres of exoplanets. We live in a very exciting time: answers to some of the oldest questions humanity has conceived are within our grasp. One of these is whether Earth is the…...
Why is the universe made of matter? These 'ghost particle' experiments could help us find out
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (715+ words) "Precision in these measurements is critical, as even subtle discrepancies could signal deviations from the model " potentially revealing new physics." Scientists have inched a step closer to solving an enduring mystery in physics " why the universe contains any matter at…...
Could alien life be found in the clouds of an exoplanet?
2+ mon, 6+ day ago (301+ words) "We thought clouds would hide life from us, but surprisingly, they could help us find life." Astronomers usually don't like clouds. After all, clouds obscure their view of the cosmos. But dense cloud coverage is now something astronomers might look…...
'Ghost particles' can zoom through you without a trace. Scientists are getting to the bottom of this cosmic mystery
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (349+ words) "I've always been fascinated by how we extract information from reality " even when we can't fully define what reality is." So, you might not get visited by a phantom this Halloween, but you'll definitely encounter plenty of cosmic ghost neutrinos,…...
Space radiation can produce some organic molecules detected on icy moons
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (739+ words) "There is no better place to look for [life] than Enceladus," This article was originally published at Eos. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. New laboratory research suggests that some organic molecules previously detected…...
New way to grow materials on-demand using crystals and light
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (518+ words) This new development uses a phenomenon called plasmonic heating that enables more precise crystal formation. Crystals used in applications as varied as lasers, LEDs and the semiconductors used in sensors found in astronomical instruments could someday be 'drawn' rather than…...
Chemistry on Saturn's huge moon Titan is even weirder than we thought
2+ mon, 4+ week ago (256+ words) The discovery that molecules of methane and ethane can worm their way into the crystal lattice of frozen hydrogen cyanide has big implications for the chemistry on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The rules of chemistry on Saturn's largest moon, Titan,…...
Saturn's moon Enceladus is shooting out organic molecules that could help create life
3+ mon, 2+ week ago (366+ words) Could Saturn's frozen moon be the best place to look for life in the solar system? Complex organic molecules that form part of the chain of chemical reactions that can result in life's building blocks have been found in the…...
The first stars may not have been as uniformly massive as astronomers thought
4+ mon, 1+ week ago (1119+ words) Chemistry in the first 50 million to 100 million years after the Big Bang may have been more active than we expected. This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights....
One of the earliest galaxies in the universe was rich in oxygen. Could it mean life evolved earlier than we thought?
4+ mon, 3+ week ago (405+ words) This early galaxy hosts as much as 30% of the oxygen of a fully developed, modern-day one. A monster galaxy from the early universe shows that the cosmos was rich with oxygen when it was only less than 3% of its present…...