Astronomy

Seeing meaning in the stars is a vital part of the scientific story.

Hit the trail with the Mars rovers, on the hunt for water and life.

The results of galactic colonization models are a mixed bag for SETI optimists.

Bringing the Drake Equation up to date.

If there’s life beyond Earth, the genetic code might be our common bond.

It’s lonely to be an exceptional planet.

Physicists have long searched for hypothesized dark matter particles called WIMPs. Now, focus may be shifting to the axion — an ultra-lightweight particle whose existence would solve two mysteries at once.

Avi Loeb has a lot of thoughts about aliens and scientific prejudice.

A breakthrough in understanding exoplanets.

The astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz won half of the prize for their 1995 discovery of a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a nearby star. The cosmologist James Peebles won the other half for work exploring the structure of the universe.

In an underground laboratory, the talk turns to religion.