Gravity

In this handout photo released by Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) and the Roscosmos space agency, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, center, reacts after landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Oct. 22, 2020.

Cassidy from space: ‘Looking down at Earth, it’s just this blue ball of peace’

Science & Technology

After returning to his native United States during the pandemic, an International Space Station astronaut reflects on his NASA journey, international geopolitics and climate science.

Alfonso Cuarón Defies Gravity

Arts, Culture & Media

Oscar Nominations Can’t Help But Please, Disappoint

Arts, Culture & Media

Studio 360 Goes to the Oscars

Arts, Culture & Media
Ballet

Tendues and torque

Arts
The World

The very real science behind ‘The Expanse’

Media

The SyFy show about colonizing space is based on a book series by the same name — and both are firmly rooted in science.

Tettegouche State Park in Minnesota

The Midcontinent Rift could have split North America apart a billion years ago. Why didn’t it?

Technology

The rift was poised to turn the upper Midwest into oceanfront real estate — until it stalled.

A frame from a simulation of the merger of two black holes and the resulting emission of gravitational radiation (colored fields, which represent a component of the curvature of space-time). The yellow areas near the black holes do not correspond to physi

Listen to the collision of two black holes. Einstein was right.

Science

One hundred years ago, Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves. Today, for the first time, scientists announced that they’ve actually been detected. Here’s what the discovery might mean for our understanding of the universe.

The clock in Grand Central Station in New York.

How do you explain the leap second to a 6-year-old?

Science

What would you do with an extra second? Well, today you get to decide, because today is one second longer than usual. What’s that you say, the idea makes your head spin? Well, it’s because of the irregular way the earth spins.

A screenshot from a NASA video explaining the development of the zero-gravity cup.

A zero-gravity cup lets astronauts get a handle on their coffee

Science

For decades, astronauts have had to drink from plastic bags to keep their water and coffee from floating away. Now NASA is trying out a new “zero-gravity cup” that uses physics to simulate taking a normal sip back on the ground.