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astrophysics
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How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Science
The latest AI algorithms are probing the evolution of galaxies, calculating quantum wave functions, discovering new chemical compounds and more. Is there anything that scientists do that can’t be automated?
Galaxy Simulations Offer a New Solution to the Fermi Paradox
Astronomers claim in a new paper that star motions should make it easy for civilizations to spread across the galaxy, but still we might find ourselves alone.
With a Second Repeating Radio Burst, Astronomers Close In on an Explanation
Brief cosmic blips called fast radio bursts have puzzled astronomers since their discovery earlier this decade. Now researchers appear to be close to understanding what powers them.
An Astrophysicist Who Maps the Universe’s Terra Incognita
Priyamvada Natarajan has pioneered the mapping and modeling of the universe’s invisible contents, especially dark matter and supermassive black holes.
How Nearby Stellar Explosions Could Have Killed Off Large Animals
Subatomic particles called muons are thought to have streamed through the atmosphere and irradiated megafauna like the monster shark megalodon.
Missing Galaxies? Now There’s Too Many
Astronomers couldn’t find enough satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. Now they have the opposite problem.
New Studies Rescue Gravitational-Wave Signal From the Noise
Two independent papers vanquish lingering doubts about LIGO’s historic discovery of gravitational waves.
On the Best Use of Science to Safeguard Humanity
For 50 years, the astrophysicist Martin Rees has contributed to our understanding of cosmology. Now he is speaking up about the promise and potential dangers of the science and technology that will arrive over the next 50 years and beyond.
Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink
Quasars powered by supermassive black holes have been unexpectedly vanishing. Scientists have started to figure out why.