Science

Humanity first visited the moon decades ago, but today is the first time a mission has made a soft landing on the moon’s far side. The Chinese Chang’e 4 probe set down in Von Kármán crater on January 3rd (Beijing time), marking another important milestone in the Chinese mission to …

A research team led by Rockefeller University scientists has discovered a genetic variant that makes people more vulnerable to tuberculosis, a disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The team also uncovered genetic mutations that rob the immune system of its ability to combat more ubiquitous germs of the same …

A research team led by Florida State University scientists has demonstrated that there are specific points along the DNA molecule that control replication. The study appears in the journal Cell. Sima et al found that cis-regulatory elements control the 3D compartmentalization, architecture of the genome, and replication timing in a …

New images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft — taken from as close as 17,000 miles (27,000 km) on approach — revealed Ultima Thule as a contact binary. This image taken by New Horizons’ Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is the most detailed of Ultima Thule returned so far by the spacecraft. …

NASA’s Juno orbiter has captured images of a volcanic plume on Jupiter’s moon Io during the mission’s 17th flyby of the giant planet. JunoCam acquired three images of Io prior to when it entered eclipse, all showing a volcanic plume illuminated beyond the terminator; the image shown here, reconstructed from …

It’s no simple matter to reach the outer solar system, so NASA is making the most of the opportunity it has with the New Horizons probe. After successfully completing its Pluto flyby in 2015, the agency redirected the spacecraft to visit an even more distant object known as Ultima Thule. …

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) rely on the thin hull of the station to protect them from the vacuum of space. Even a small breach could spell disaster for the station and its crew, so personnel on the ground carefully monitor conditions. It’s a good thing, too. The …

NASA’s Juno spacecraft is on a mission to study Jupiter, but that’s not the only celestial object in range of its instruments. Jupiter has plenty of moons, and Juno can take a peek at those while it loops around the gas giant. On its most recent orbit of Jupiter, Juno …

A team of archaeologists from Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) has rediscovered a large, well-preserved subterranean ice-well dating from 1780. Located just off Regent’s Park, the subterranean ice-well would have been one of the largest of its kind when first built — measuring an impressive 24.6 foot (7.5 m) wide …

NASA has released the first image from the historic Ultima Thule flyby taken with New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera. Ultima Thule. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute. New Horizons flew past Ultima Thule at 12:33 a.m. EST (5:33 a.m. …