Science

Not just “philosophical mumbo-jumbo”: An experiment shows how facts can depend on the observer. Davide Bonazzi / Salzman Art By George Musser17 August 2020, 11:20 p.m. About 60 years ago, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Eugene Wigner conquered one of the many oddities of quantum mechanics in a thought experiment. He imagined …

Credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics The debate over the origin and molecular structure of ‘Oumuamua continued today with an announcement in The Astrophysical Magazine Letters that despite previous promising claims, the interstellar object is apparently not made of molecular hydrogen ice. The previous study, published in 2020 by Seligman & …

This is the first installment of the Coronavirus Schools Briefing, a new newsletter sent out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday that brings you the latest developments on the seismic changes to education taking place during the pandemic. Sign up here to receive the briefing via email. The state of play …

For the first time, scientists have successfully bound a laser from a mirror attached to a spaceship orbiting the month. Laser ejection from mirrors on the lunar surface is an old trick. Astronauts orbiting the moon first left reflectors behind in 1969. And since then, researchers have bounced lasers of …

While looking deep into the heart of the galaxy, astronomers have seen the fastest star ever. This thing scurries through space; at one point in the orbit it moves at a staggering 24,000 kilometers per second – more than 85 one million kilometers per hour! That is 8% the speed …