ScIence

STEPHEN Hawking is leading an investigation into whether the first object ever to arrive from OUTSIDE our solar system is a spaceship from an alien civilisation. The first mysterious object to reach our solar system was originally thought to be a comet or an asteroid from within the system. But, scientists realised it was neither and had travelled unimaginable disatances through interstellar space

Like part of a cosmic Russian doll, our universe may be nested inside a black hole that is itself part of a larger universe. In turn, all the black holes found so far in our universe—from the microscopic to the supermassive—may be doorways into alternate realities. According to a mind-bending new theory, a black hole is actually a tunnel between universes—a type of wormhole. The matter the b

Roads of the future could be lit by glowing trees instead of streetlamps, thanks to a breakthrough in creating bioluminescent plants. Experts injected specialized nanoparticles into the leaves of a watercress plant, which caused it to give off a dim light for nearly four hours. This could solve lots of problems. The chemical involved, which produced enough light to read a book by, is the same

An eighth planet has been discovered orbiting the distant star Kepler-90, proving that our eight-planet solar system isn’t unique after all. This is a groundbreaking scientific discovery, since it marks the first time scientists have become aware of another eight-planet solar system aside from our own. “Our solar system now is tied for most number of planets around a single star, with t

Scientists working with telescopes at the European Southern Observatory and NASA announced a remarkable new discovery: An entire system of Earth-sized planets. If that’s not enough, the team asserts that the density measurements of the planets indicates that the six innermost are Earth-like rocky worlds. And that’s just the beginning. Three of the planets lie in the star’s habitable

If ever you want a surefire way to calm your nerves on those days when life’s problems seem all-encompassing, wait until nighttime rolls around and head outside for a nice peek up at the stars. When’s the last time you were disappointed by looking at the sky? Or by looking at pictures of the earth from space, even? Composite view of Solar Eclipse as seen from Space We may never know al

Pictures from the Elektro-L No.1 Russian weather satellite of Earth are the highest-detail images yet, and come in at 121 megapixels. The color scheme comes from the image capture method, which combines data from three visible and one infrared wavelengths of light when it takes full-sized images of Earth every 30 minutes. There’s been a long history of NASA-provided “Blue Marble” image