Whether we are searching the cosmos or probing the subatomic realm, our most successful theories lead to the inescapable conclusion that our universe is just a speck in a vast sea of universes.
Most people barely notice lichens, but Dr. Anne Pringle, a mycologist at Harvard, believes they may help answer one of science’s greatest questions: Is immortality biologically possible? For eight years, Dr. Pringle has been measuring, sketching and scrutinizing lichens, which belong to the genus Xanthoparmelia. She wants to know whether they deteriorate with the passage…
Astronomers have discovered what may be five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, the closest single star beyond our solar system whose temperature and luminosity nearly match the sun’s. If the planets are there, one of them is about the right distance from the star to sport mild temperatures, oceans of liquid water, and even life. Don’t…
The center of our galaxy, as seen by the powerful Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) instrument in northern Chile, has been captured in a digital image that represents the largest catalog of the stars there to date, some 84 million of them (10 times more than earlier catalogs). The original image covers…
Since 1995, astronomers have been hunting in earnest for possible havens for life outside the solar system. So far, they’ve detected more than 550 extrasolar planets, or exoplanets. Another 2,000-plus possible planets are waiting in the wings for confirmation. Researchers are working on ways to identify a “potentially Earth-like” planet – even if it isn’t…
Quashing the ‘doomsday’ rumors, top NASA scientists have assured that the world won’t end on December 21, 2012. “The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA said on its website….
Today, we face Big Questions about meaning and purpose, virtues and values, and how to shape our common future, as we continue to strive to understand our origins and place in the universe.