Collaborate Disseminate
Astronomers have detected a strange signal coming from a group of neutron stars that could be the fingerprints of a long-sought elementary particle – and maybe even dark matter. An unexplained excess of X-rays hints at axions, hypothetical “ghost” part… Continue reading Unexplained X-ray signals from neutron stars hint at “ghost” particles
The Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory in Japan has received a relatively simple upgrade that should allow it to look further back in time. A rare-earth element called gadolinium has been added to the water in the huge underground facility, which wi… Continue reading Rare-earth element upgrade to help observatory detect ancient neutrinos
The universe may have started with a Big Bang, but it will most likely end in an utterly anticlimactic way, slowly fading to black over trillions and trillions of years. Now, a theoretical physicist at Illinois State University has calculated what migh… Continue reading Black dwarf supernovae might be the last event in the universe
The universe likes to play coy about its age, but astronomers believe they have a pretty good idea of the range. Now, a series of new studies has investigated the question using different methods – and they’ve come up with two different answers, separa… Continue reading How old is the universe? New studies disagree by a billion years
It sounds like science fiction to say there’s invisible, undetectable stuff all around us, and it doesn’t help that it has the spooky name of dark matter. But there’s plenty of evidence that this material is very real. So what exactly is dark matter? H… Continue reading Dark matter: What is it, how do we know it’s there and will we find it?
One of the core components of cosmology is the understanding that the universe is expanding evenly in all directions. It was predicted by theory decades ago, and supported by measurements of the cosmic microwave background. But new X-ray observations n… Continue reading Parts of the universe may be expanding faster than others
The universe is generally believed to be expanding at an accelerating rate, thanks to a mysterious force dubbed dark energy. But how exactly does this force work? Researchers in the UK have conducted an experiment to test a hypothesis that th… Continue reading Atomic experiment to detect dark energy fails to feel the force
The black hole information paradox fascinated Hawking for decades, and is the topic of his final research study. Continue reading Stephen Hawking’s Last Paper Is Now Online
Hawking’s message to preserve the planet was radioed into space during his Friday memorial at London’s Westminster Abbey. Continue reading Stephen Hawking’s Voice Was Beamed to a Black Hole During His Funeral
It seems almost absurd now, but cosmologists once assumed that galaxies of a given type were all the same and didn’t change. Because of this assumption, galaxies were used as a redshift or light-based yardstick to measure distances in the universe. But what if some galaxies were intrinsically redder than others? Little to no thought was given to their origins, compositions, or evolution until Beatrice Tinsley came along.
Beatrice saw galaxies as changing bodies of stars. She believed that they grew, evolved, and died because they’re made of stars, and that’s what their star populations did. To lump all galaxies …read more
Continue reading Beatrice Tinsley and the Evolution of Galaxies