NASA's Psyche asteroid mission: a 3.6 billion kilometre 'journey to the centre of the Earth'
Oct 18, 2023 11:31 am UTC| Science
Psyche was the Greek goddess of the soul, born a mere mortal and later married to Eros, the God of love. Who knows why the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis gave her name to a celestial object he observed one night...
More than 200 scientists from 19 countries want to tell us the Southern Ocean is in trouble
Oct 18, 2023 11:31 am UTC| Science
While the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has been warming for decades, the annual extent of winter sea ice seemed relatively stable compared to the Arctic. In some areas Antarctic sea ice was even increasing. That...
Oct 18, 2023 00:39 am UTC| Science
The universe is flooded with billions of chemicals, each a tiny pinprick of potential. And weve only identified 1% of them. Scientists believe undiscovered chemical compounds could help remove greenhouse gases, or trigger...
Why is space so dark even though the universe is filled with stars?
Oct 17, 2023 06:47 am UTC| Science
Why is space so dark despite all of the stars in the universe? Nikhil, age 15, New Delhi People have been asking why space is dark despite being filled with stars for so long that this question has a special...
Osiris-Rex: Nasa reveals evidence of water and carbon in sample delivered to Earth from an asteroid
Oct 16, 2023 06:41 am UTC| Science
On September 24 this year, a Nasa capsule parachuted down to Earth carrying a precious cache of material grabbed from an asteroid. The space agency has now revealed images and a preliminary analysis of the space rocks it...
Nasa's Psyche mission is set for launch – here's how it could unveil the interior secrets of planets
Oct 15, 2023 04:07 am UTC| Science
Its unlikely to be a bad omen, but Nasas mission Psyche is currently due to launch on Friday 13 October. Lifting off at 10.19 EDT on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, it faces a perilous journey and isnt scheduled for arrival...
Oct 12, 2023 07:30 am UTC| Science
The afterglow of a massive collision between two giant planets may have been detected for the first time. The wreckage of the collision could eventually cool and form an entirely new planet. If the observation is...
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