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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
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Cosmology

The Indian astronomer whose innovative work on black holes was mocked at Cambridge

13 minutes

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Astronomy

Seven years later, what can we make of our first confirmed interstellar visitor?

59 minutes

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essay

Astronomy

Panspermia

It’s possible that frozen worlds with subterranean oceans are incubators of organic life. But then how did life get here?

Balazs Bradak

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Space exploration

What are you really seeing when you see magnificent images of space?

5 minutes

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Space exploration

Cosmic vision

By showing us a new cosmos, the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope will ripple through our moral universe

Claire Isabel Webb

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Astronomy

Thriving on Mars

Dust storms, long distances and freezing temperatures make living on Mars magnificently challenging. How will we do it?

Simon Morden

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Cosmology

Cogitating black holes

The Universe cannot always be understood through observation. Instead, physicists explore by devising thought experiments

Michael Dine

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Logic and probability

Is it more likely you’re a person with a past, or an ephemeral brain in a void?

6 minutes

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essay

Cosmology

Dark horses in the cosmos

Could primordial black holes from the beginning of time explain ‘dark matter’, the mysterious missing mass in the Universe?

Briley Lewis

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Cosmology

Revisiting ‘Powers of Ten’ – what we’ve learned about the Universe since 1977

7 minutes

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Cosmology

The search for alien tech

There’s a new plan to find extraterrestrial civilisations by the way they live. But if we can see them, can they see us?

Corey S Powell

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Cosmology

Building ‘bigger and better’ has pushed cosmology forward. Can it take it any further?

7 minutes

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Cosmology

A non-Standard model

Most cosmologists say dark matter must exist. So far, it’s nowhere to be found. A widely scorned rival theory explains why

David Merritt

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Astronomy

Contact

An alien-made artefact or just interstellar debris? What ʻOumuamua says about how science works when data is scarce

Matthew Bothwell

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Physics

The cosmic chasm

Physics as we know it is elegant and exquisitely accurate. It tells almost nothing about the deepest riddles of the Universe

Pedro G Ferreira

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Cosmology

A cyclical, forgetful Universe – Roger Penrose details an astonishing origin hypothesis

17 minutes

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Cosmology

Big space

Our planet is a tiny porthole, looking over a cosmic sea. Can we learn what lies beyond our own horizons of perception?

Katie Mack

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Astronomy

Does dark matter exist?

Dark matter is the most ubiquitous thing physicists have never found: it’s time to consider alternative explanations

Ramin Skibba

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Chemistry

As above, so below – an artist finds the cosmos in a microscopic chemical reaction

6 minutes

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History of science

Naming the Universe

How the quick thinking of internationally minded astronomers avoided stamping the solar system with petty European rivalries

Stephen Case

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Astronomy

Watch the rare, awesome spectacle as Mercury passes between the Earth and Sun

1 minute

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Philosophy of religion

If you think that modern cosmology leaves no room for ‘god’, start using your imagination

27 minutes

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Cosmology

Fate of the Universe

Are we part of a dying reality or a blip in eternity? The value of the Hubble Constant could tell us which terror awaits

Corey S Powell

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Cosmology

Turns out that, even when Einstein was wrong, he was kind of right

6 minutes