Stephen Hawking, the world’s most famous living scientist and a symbol of the triumph of willpower over adversity, has celebrated his 70th birthday, revealing he did not learn to read properly until he was eight years old, and that his schoolfriends had made a bet that he “would never come to anything”. A public symposium [...]
Astronomers have detected the first Earth-sized planets, which are orbiting a star similar to our own Sun. In the distant past they may have been able to support life and one of them may have had conditions similar to our own planet – a so-called Earth-twin – according to the research team. They have described [...]
Florida, US: NASA has launched the most capable machine ever built to land on Mars. The near one-tonne rover, tucked inside a capsule, left Florida on an Atlas 5 rocket at 10:02 local time. Nicknamed Curiosity, the rover will take eight and a half months to cross the vast distance to its destination. If it [...]
Judging by the run of successful natural disaster films in the past few years, people are fascinated by the idea of the end of the world. In Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, a virus ravaged the UK and beyond; an asteroid was the world-ending threat in Deep Impact and Armageddon; and climate change got a [...]
A team of engineers claims to have created the world’s lightest material. The substance is made out of tiny hollow metallic tubes arranged into a micro-lattice – a criss-crossing diagonal pattern with small open spaces between the tubes. The researchers say the material is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and has “extraordinarily high energy absorption” [...]
If you think interplanetary space is a dangerous place now, with asteroids screaming by at close range and comets crashing into planets with the force of multiple H-bombs, be grateful you weren’t here 4 billion years ago or so. Back then, our solar system was still getting itself organized. Planets caromed around like so many [...]
A Russian spacecraft carrying three astronauts – two Russians and one American – has launched successfully from Kazakhstan. They are the first to travel on a Russian Soyuz craft since a similar unmanned rocket carrying cargo crashed shortly after launch in August. All manned space travel was suspended after that crash for almost three months. [...]
Chancellor George Osborne has announced an extra £103m of funding for renewable energy in Scotland. The money from the Fossil Fuel Levy was additional to the Scottish government’s budget, but within the UK’s overall spending plans and contingencies. Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney said the funds were “long-awaited” but welcome. Accompanied by Chief Secretary to [...]
China’s unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou 8 blasted off Tuesday morning, in the latest step in what will be a decade-long effort by the country to place a manned permanent space station in orbit. The spacecraft took off from a base in the far western city of Jiuquan, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Minutes later, Xinhua [...]
A University of Hawaii astronomer has captured the first direct image of a planet forming around a star. Dubbed LkCa 15 b, it is the youngest planet ever found. The university’s Institute for Astronomy said Adam Kraus used telescopes on Mauna Kea island to find the planet. He was working with Michael Ireland from Macquarie [...]