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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The word “crisis” hung in the air from the very beginning of the meeting. In a room just steps from the ocean in Santa Barbara, astronomers and physicists shifted restlessly in their chairs. Sunshine and sea breezes beckoned, but the scientists had cloistered themselves to debate one of the biggest quandaries […] More
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — It’s one of the most talked-about issues in physics: Two measurements of the universe’s expansion rate disagree. Now, a technique that aimed to resolve the mismatch has produced a third estimate that falls between the previous two. So the controversy endures, scientists report in a study accepted in the Astrophysical Journal. […] More
A geophysicist looks at the science, history and culture of the versatile element ALL ABOUT CARBON Diamond, graphite and calcite (crystals shown) are just three of the hundreds of carbon-bearing minerals found on Earth. Rob Lavinsky and iRocks.com/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) Share this: This article is only available to Science News subscribers. Subscribers, enter […] More
The finding suggests large structures in the cosmic web are magnetized MAGNETIC CONNECTION Two distant galaxy clusters, Abell 0399 (left) and Abell 0401 (right), are connected by magnetic fields containing high-energy electrons. X-rays from the cluster cores are shown in purple, and radio emission from the magnetic bridge forms the blue-toned smear in between. DSS, […] More
Subatomic particles born in the universe’s first second may imprint their effects on the sky RUN IN CIRCLES Galaxies in the universe tend to cluster into rings (illustrated), and scientists have found signs that subatomic particles called neutrinos change the way matter is distributed in the circles. Zosia Rostomian/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Share this: This […] More
The burst of light from far away may have been a new type of supernova GLOBAL OBSERVATIONS An odd stellar flare called the “Cow” was observed by telescopes around the world, including the Australia Telescope Compact Array (shown) near Narrabri, Australia. Alex Cherney, CSIRO Share this: This article is only available to Science News subscribers. […] More
This series of brief radio signals comes from a galaxy 1.6 billion light-years away EARLY DAYS The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment in western Canada spotted 13 new fast radio bursts last summer, one of which repeats. The telescope wasn’t even operating at full capacity at the time. CHIME Collaboration Share this: This article is […] More
It’s the second probe ever to exit the heliosphere OVER AND OUT The Voyager 2 spacecraft has crossed into interstellar space, six years after its twin probe, Voyager 1. The two spacecraft are providing an unprecedented look at the edge of the sun’s influence (lighter blue bubble in this illustration). JPL-Caltech/NASA Share this: This article […] More
