Space Exploration
What Time Is It on the Moon?
Satellite navigation systems for lunar settlements will require local atomic clocks. Scientists are working out what time they will keep
Stories by Elizabeth Gibney
Energy
Nuclear Fusion Lab Achieves ‘Ignition’: What Does It Mean?
Fusion researchers at the U.S. National Ignition Facility created a reaction that made more energy than they put in
Mathematics
How Many Yottabytes in a Quettabyte? Extreme Numbers Get New Names
Prolific generation of data drove the need for prefixes that denote 1027 and 1030
Computing
The Leap Second’s Time Is Up: World Votes to Stop Pausing Clocks
How, and whether, to keep atomic time in sync with Earth’s rotation is still up for debate
Climate Change
The Middle East Is Going Green while Supplying Oil to Others
Middle Eastern governments are ramping up their green ambitions ahead of the COP27 climate summit but show few signs of reining in fossil-fuel exports
Defense
Where Is Russia’s Cyberwar? Researchers Decipher Its Strategy
When Russia invaded Ukraine, many analysts expected an unprecedented level of cyberattacks—which so far haven’t materialized
Space Exploration
China Plans Asteroid Missions, Space Telescopes and a Moon Base
In the next five years, the nation hopes to launch a robotic craft to an asteroid, two lunar missions and an orbital observatory
Space & Physics
‘Like Froth on a Cappuccino’: Spacecraft’s Chaotic Landing Reveals Comet’s Softness
Detective work reconstructs the final movements of the European Space Agency’s Philae probe
Space & Physics
Last Chance for WIMPs: Physicists Launch All-Out Hunt for Dark Matter Candidate
Researchers have spent decades searching for the elusive particles. A final generation of detectors should leave them no place to hide
Space & Physics
Arab World’s First Mars Probe Takes to the Skies
Celebration is tinged with relief as $200-million orbiter embarks on 7-month odyssey to the Red Planet
Space & Physics
This Photo of the Sun Is the Closest Ever Taken
Close-up reveals a surface dancing with ‘campfires’
Space & Physics
How a Small Arab Nation Built a Mars Mission from Scratch in Six Years
The United Arab Emirates’ Hope orbiter is the Arab world’s first interplanetary spacecraft — and has jump-started science in the country. Will the momentum last?
Space & Physics
CERN Makes Bold Push to Build $23-Billion Super Collider
European particle-physics lab will pursue a 100-kilometer machine to uncover the Higgs boson’s secrets — but it doesn’t yet have the funds
Space & Physics
Universe’s Coolest Lab Creates Bizarre Quantum Matter in Space
Physicists have made a Bose–Einstein condensate on the International Space Station—allowing them to probe the mysteries of quantum physics in detail
EARTH
Coronavirus Lockdowns Have Changed the Way Earth Moves
A reduction in seismic noise because of changes in human activity is a boon for geoscientists
Space & Physics
Destination Neptune! Rare Chance to Reach Ice Giants Excites Scientists
A planetary alignment provides a window to visit Uranus and Neptune—but time is tight
Space & Physics
European Space Windfall Will Fast-Track Science Missions
Europe’s space agency is set to receive 45% more money than in the previous three-year budget
Quantum Computing
The Quantum Gold Rush
The science is immature, and a multipurpose quantum computer doesn’t yet exist. But that isn’t stopping investors from pouring cash into quantum start-ups
Quantum Computing
Google Publishes Landmark Quantum Supremacy Claim
The company says that its quantum computer is the first to perform a calculation that would be practically impossible for a classical machine
Space & Physics
Astronomers Are Closer to Cracking the Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts
Canadian telescope finds eight more repeating blasts—energetic events from deep in the cosmos
