The formation of continents was an important step in Earth’s history. Continents and plate tectonics are connected to the planet’s habitability, and the same is true for the habitability of other rocky exoplanets. Understanding when and how continents formed, and what factors and processes governed it, is one of planetary science’s major goals. Plate tectonics…
Imagine we had somehow filmed the whole history of the universe and you could play the movie in reverse. It would start off much as things stand today: a vast and elegant web of galaxies and nebulae. But as the tape rewinds, everything begins to shrink until it reaches an evanescent pinprick of energy –…
Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions might look like a direct sequel to Astroneer on the surface, but it’s a space exploration game with very different objectives. While its predecessor focuses (it continues to get updates and content packs) on base-building and creative tools, this second title instead takes players on shorter, breezier trips all about discovery and…
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org Now that the Space Force has launched satellite into orbit on less than 17 hours’ notice, the companies operating the satellites involved in the mission involved…
The Artemis 2 mission patch. Credit: NASA/Gregory Manchess. Most missions to space, whether they be human or robotic, are long-term endeavors. Even diminutive CubeSats require multiple years of concerted effort to reach the launch pad. These preparations can feel like a marathon from the perspective of the people who design and build a spacecraft, but there are…
Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe an oddball gas giant exoplanet orbiting a dead star, a white dwarf, located some 80 light-years away. This “life after death” system gives scientists a portentous vision of what the solar system may look like in around 6 billion years after the sun has…
But the complex of proteins needed to make more proteins is far too large to go through a small pore. So the researchers encased these proteins and other large materials in a different membrane and then fed those to the SpudCells. To get the two membranes—one from the SpudCell, one from its food—to interact, the…
America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark A Smithsonian magazine special report One president invented campaign buttons so he could just stay home during election season. Another one rallied Americans to go to the moon. And one—only one—holds a patent. Sonja Anderson | Daily Correspondent Summer 2026 Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214. Division of…
America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark A Smithsonian magazine special report He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in ending WWI and strove to improve the plight of American workers. Today, his blind spots shroud most of his accomplishments Douglas P. Jones Imagine American democracy as a mountain lake, its waters held back…
For more than a century, physics has been built on two great theories. Einstein’s general relativity explains gravity as the bending of space and time. Quantum mechanics governs the world of particles and fields. Both work brilliantly in their own domains. But put them together and contradictions appear – especially when it comes to black…