Science & Tech

Science & Tech

Explore the discoveries that reveal how the world works, alongside the technologies that extend, reshape, and sometimes challenge what’s possible.

A light bulb hanging on a wall with a swirl pattern.
Even if a leading theory of consciousness is wrong, it can still be useful to science.
A photo of an astronaut on the moon and a signed letter from Apollo 11.
Considering the astronomical occupational risks, life insurance was prohibitively expensive for the first NASA astronauts.
Einstein with his class of students in 1896
Hermann Minkowski called Einstein a "lazybones" with a "not very solid" education. Less than 10 years later, he would eat his words.
An artist's impression of a planet collision.
The Universe, although violent, is filled with creation events following destructive ones. 1850 light-years away, both types are unfolding.
Cells
It temporarily puts the immune system on high alert to prevent MRSA, pneumonia, and other infections in the hospital.
Two black and yellow strips of string in a plastic container.
You can’t farm spiders — but putting spider genes into silkworms works even better.
star vs planet vs brown dwarf
Between the least massive star and most massive planet lies the mysterious brown dwarf: a class of objects that are neither star nor planet.
A soccer goalkeepers is diving to save a ball.
Goalkeepers have an enhanced ability to integrate auditory and visual information compared to other players.
If the "self" is not real, then we are slaves to a billiard ball universe, trapped in a nihilistic nightmare in which we cannot change our fate.
John Templeton Foundation
A black and white photo of Albert Einstein demonstrating gravity force.
Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are locked in an eternal battle over the nature of gravity. Whose side are you on?
An image of a nebula with stars in it.
Measurements of the acceleration of the universe don’t agree, stumping physicists working to understand the cosmic past and future. A new proposal seeks to better align these estimates — and is likely testable.
A measuring tape alongside a bottle of exercise pills on a wooden table.
Long thought a pipe dream, scientists have discovered a drug that mimics the effects of exercise.
The muon particle infographic fermilab
From unexplained tracks in a balloon-borne experiment to cosmic rays on Earth, the unstable muon was particle physics' biggest surprise.
JuMBOs planet mass orion nebula JWST nircam
In the largest star-forming region close to Earth, JWST found hundreds of planetary-mass objects. How do these free-floating planets form?
Monks in red robes walking in the snow during biostasis.
Inside the “out there” quest for a drug that would help doctors save lives before it’s too late.
particle collision
2023's Nobel Prize was awarded for studying physics on tiny, attosecond-level timescales. Too bad that particle physics happens even faster.
If you find yourself on one of these roads, it might be a while before you see another fellow traveler.
FIRE simulation JWST starburst star-forming
With so many early galaxies of unexpectedly large brightnesses, JWST surprised us all. Here's how scientists made sense of what we see.
A mummy inside a casket found in Mexico.
Every astrobiologist wants to find an alien. But the public should be skeptical when the "aliens" look like tiny humans.