Our survey of the sky is uncovering the secrets of how planets are born
Mar 13, 2024 10:48 am UTC| Insights & Views Science
When we look out to the stars, it is typically not a yearning for the distant depths of outer space that drives us. When we are looking out there, we are truly looking back at ourselves. We try to understand our place in...
Mar 12, 2024 06:49 am UTC| Science
Total solar eclipses have fascinated and terrified people for centuries. Today, we know that total solar eclipses like the upcoming eclipse on April 8 are caused by a cosmic coincidence when the moon comes between the...
Spacesuits need a major upgrade for the next phase of exploration
Mar 07, 2024 07:39 am UTC| Science
Humans have long dreamed of setting foot on the Moon and other planetary bodies such as Mars. Since the 1960s, space travellers have donned suits designed to protect them from the vacuum of space and stepped out into the...
The brightest object in the universe is a black hole that eats a star a day
Feb 20, 2024 11:05 am UTC| Insights & Views Science
Scientists have no reported evidence of the true conditions in Hell, perhaps because no one has ever returned to tell the tale. Hell has been imagined as a supremely uncomfortable place, hot and hostile to bodily forms of...
Feb 08, 2024 12:31 pm UTC| Science
In the middle of 2023, a study conducted by the HuthLab at the University of Texas sent shockwaves through the realms of neuroscience and technology. For the first time, the thoughts and impressions of people unable to...
Feb 08, 2024 12:27 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science
Embryonic development, also known as embryogenesis, is a cornerstone in understanding the origins of life. But studying this marvel of intricate and layered biological processes in people faces considerable challenges....
Genetic diseases: How scientists are working to make DNA repair (almost) a piece of cake
Feb 06, 2024 08:01 am UTC| Insights & Views Science
I have always been fascinated by genetics, a branch of biology that helps explain everything from the striking resemblance between different members of a family to the fact that strawberry plants are frost-resistant. Its...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight