The moon’s face doesn’t tell its whole story
Researchers find that huge craters on the near side of the moon may overstate the intensity of asteroid impacts about 4.1 billion years ago.
Making Martian clouds on Earth
Cloud-chamber experiments show that clouds on Mars form in much more humid conditions than clouds on Earth.
Detecting DNA in space
Researchers, in a step toward analyzing Mars for signs of life, find that gene-sequencing chip can survive space radiation.
An answer to a lunar mystery: Why is the moon’s gravity so uneven?
Simulations based on GRAIL data show how gravitational anomalies developed early in lunar history.
Revising Darwin’s sinking-island theory
New study helps resolve a dispute over the origins of coral-reef formations.
Finding a gecko in the crowd
A combination of crowdsourcing and computer vision could identify individuals within endangered populations.
Mapping the early history of the moon
In 41st annual Killian Lecture, Maria Zuber describes looking deep into the moon’s interior to chart its early history.
Mercury may have harbored an ancient magma ocean
Massive lava flows may have given rise to two distinct rock types on Mercury’s surface.
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.
Scientists discover water ice on Mercury
Ice and organic material may have been carried to the planet by passing comets.
Scientists find first evidence of dynamo generation on an asteroid
A meteorite found in Antarctica holds evidence of a once-active dynamo on Vesta.
A far-off solar system
Researchers measure the orientation of a multiplanet system and find it very similar to our own solar system.
River networks on Titan point to a puzzling geologic history
Findings suggest the surface of Saturn’s largest moon may have undergone a recent transformation.