Latest articles by Rafi Letzter
Catastrophic Ohio Methane Leak Stayed Hidden Until a Satellite Found It
A blowout in Ohio made little news in 2018, but satellite images show it was a major global event.
Giant Panda Babies Are Born 'Undercooked' and No One Knows Why
The leading theory just fell apart.
Scientists Found the Deepest Land on Earth Hiding Beneath Antarctica's Ice
A new mapping effort revealed critical new details of Antarctica's hidden land.
Physicists Use Bubbling Quantum Vacuum to Hopscotch Heat Across Empty Space
Heat isn't supposed to move like this.
Our Large, Adult Galaxy Is As Massive As 890 Billion Suns
We live in a very big house, but we can't see most of it.
First-of-Its-Kind Neutron Star Flashes Bizarre 'Cyclotron Line' at Earth
Neutron stars have never been caught behaving this way before.
Solar Probe Finds Active, Mysterious Corona, Surprising Scientists
NASA's Parker Solar Probe has passed through the outer atmosphere of the sun, and now we get to see what it found.
19 Galaxies Are Apparently Missing Dark Matter. No One Knows Why.
Nineteen newly discovered dwarf galaxies seem to be missing their dark matter, and physicists aren't sure why.
There Might Be Cracks in the Universe — But We Can't See Them from Earth
The cracks, if they exist, are old, remnants of a time shortly after the Big Bang.
3 Black Holes Possibly Seen Cooking Their Galaxies Alive
Without the turbulence, the galaxies would die in just a few billion years.
Neptune's Wobbling Moons Are Locked in a Never-Before-Seen Orbital Dance
Standing on one moon, you'd see the other pass overhead twice before ducking around to pass on the other side.
Mysterious Gravitational Wave Sparks Days-Long Hunt — But It Was Just a Glitch
This wasn't what anyone was hoping for.
Can a Person Survive Eating Only Beef?
High cholesterol, cancer and a shorter life span would all be very real risks.
New, 'Hidden' State of Matter Coaxed into Being by Ultrafast Laser Flashes
Physicists think this might be the first of many hidden states of matter that could be uncovered using laser flashes.
Asteroid Impacts Might Wipe Out Alien Life Around Dwarf Stars
What's the recipe for a living planet? A new paper suggests that the right number of impacts is a key ingredient.
Mathematicians Solve 'Twin Prime Conjecture' — In an Alternate Universe
Mathematicians have uncovered a big new piece of evidence for one of the most famous unproven ideas in mathematics, known as the twin prime conjecture.
Giant Plasma Guns Could Be the Answer to Limitless Fusion Power
Los Alamos physicists want to combine two fusion-power techniques and finally harness the energy source that powers the sun.
Fireball That Flew Over Japan in 2017 Was Tiny Piece of Giant Asteroid that Might One Day Threaten Earth
If you'd looked up into the sky in Kyoto, Japan, on April 28, 2017, you may have seen a preview of an event that could, far down the road, threaten the whole Earth.
An Asteroid-Smashing Star Ground a Giant Rock to Bits and Covered Itself in the Remains
Good news for scientists. Bad news for any asteroid dwellers.
A Second Interstellar Visitor Has Arrived in Our Solar System. This Time, Astronomers Think They Know Where It Came From
When 'Oumuamua passed through our solar system in 2017, no one could figure out where the object came from. But astronomers think they've worked out how Comet 2I/Borisov got here.
