Researchers discover that an exoplanet is Earth-like in mass and size
While too hot to support life, Kepler 78b is roughly the size of the Earth.
Dina Katabi and Sara Seager win MacArthur ‘genius grants’
Two MIT professors are among 24 recipients nationwide of this year’s unrestricted $625,000 prizes from the MacArthur Foundation.
Q&A: John Richardson and John Belcher on Voyager 1’s crossing and interstellar exploration
Beyond the solar system, a probe launched in 1977 is likely to find a cold, dense sea of cosmic rays.
An answer to why our galaxy’s black hole is a finicky eater
Researchers find material ejects itself before black hole can devour it.
Superfluid turbulence through the lens of black holes
Study finds behavior of the turbulent flow of superfluids is opposite that of ordinary fluids.
Obama hosts Dresselhaus, Graybiel and Luu in Oval Office
The three MIT scientists are among six winners of the 2012 Kavli Prizes to visit the White House.
Searching for solar systems like our own
Josh Winn’s hunt for exoplanets may someday reveal habitable, Earth-like worlds.
When the first stars blinked on
The very first stars may have turned on when the universe was 750 million years old.
GRAIL reveals a battered lunar history
Twin spacecraft create a highly detailed gravity map of the moon, finding an interior pulverized by early impacts.
A burst of activity in the middle of the Milky Way
Researchers detect the brightest flare ever observed in our galaxy’s black hole.
Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroid
With 20 years’ notice, paint pellets could cause an asteroid to veer off course.
Measuring the universe’s ‘exit door’
For the first time, an international team has measured the radius of a black hole.
A far-off solar system
Researchers measure the orientation of a multiplanet system and find it very similar to our own solar system.
Explained: Near-miss asteroids
What to do in the event of an asteroid streaking toward Earth? Activate the asteroid ‘fire drill.’