You’re standing on the moon, gazing up at the Sun without the protective blanket of an atmosphere that we know and love on Earth. The sky is a stark, black canvas dotted with stars; the Sun is an unfiltered beacon. Now, picture this surreal scene interrupted by a massive solar flare, one of the most powerful explosions in our solar system. What Are Solar Flares?(Credit: Jurik Peter/Shutterstock) Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation emanating from the Sun’s surface, caused by the sud ...read more

How many moons are in our solar system? First, it would help to understand that a moon is an object that’s formed naturally and orbits around a planet. The Earth’s Moon is well known. It’s the brightest light in the sky, and you can see it most nights. But there are many more moons in the solar system, and some of them have pretty interesting stories.According to the most current count from NASA, there are 293 moons in our solar system and likely more to be counted. Let’s take a look at ...read more

Named after the Roman God of War, the red planet has yielded countless insights about our extraterrestrial backyard. From hosting the tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, to massive underground ice deposits, Mars is full of surprises.And like any diligent explorer, NASA is set on uncovering more of them. Here’s the insider scoop on the latest findings from our nearest cosmic neighbor.The Curiosity RoverNASA's Curiosity rover, a seasoned Mars explorer, reached the Gediz Vallis ch ...read more

Parents often tell children not to talk back or interrupt. But both actions can be characteristics of human communication.The same is true for chimps, even though these primates communicate primarily through gestures instead of spoken words. In the largest-ever data set collected on chimpanzee communication, researchers showed that chimps use a rapid-fire, back-and-forth communication style similar to humans — complete with interruptions, according to a study in Current Biology.Chimpanzee Hand ...read more

Tuataras may look like lizards, but they are more oddballs of the reptile world.These New Zealand creatures have been carving their own evolutionary path for nearly 250 million years. The species they evolved from split off from the group that also gave rise to lizards and eventually snakes.But what exactly makes tuataras so unique? A third eye, a strange skeletal structure, and a different approach to sex, are some traits to start with.What are Tuataras?Tuataras are reptiles, and though they ma ...read more

Scientific research! No, it isn't just a bunch of folks in lab coats shouting "eureka!" and then getting handed a Nobel Prize. Lots of scientific research gets done these days in the United States alone. This work is being done by a widely diverse (but maybe not diverse enough) group of people at universities, labs, companies, you name it. In fact, the average scientist likely spends more time writing than "doing" research. The process to go from research to publication is not well known by most ...read more

Over the long, slow process of natural selection, species survive by adapting to their environments by developing traits suited to those environments. The insulating coat and subcutaneous fat of polar bears allow them to live in the Arctic ice. Kangaroo rats are able to survive in the desert because they don’t need to drink water; they’ve evolved the ability to survive on the small amount of moisture they get from the seeds they eat.But environments can change rapidly. A volcanic eruption mi ...read more

As wildfires have sent palls of smoke streaming across large swaths of North America, some have spawned fire-breathing thunderstorm clouds. As is evident from the image above and others that follow, these pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or pyroCbs, offer a visually dramatic reminder of just how extreme wildfire behavior can get. But they are significant for other reasons as well. PyroCbs can hurl barrages of lightning bolts to the ground, triggering even more wildfires. They also can help spread harmfu ...read more

Black holes are remarkable astronomical objects with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape them. The most gigantic ones, known as “supermassive” black holes, can weigh millions to billions times the mass of the Sun.These giants usually live in the centers of galaxies. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, contains a supermassive black hole in its heart as well.So, how do these supermassive black holes become super massive? To answer this question, our teamof astrophysicists loo ...read more

Wildfires have exploded across Canada, sending thick plumes of smoke across a vast territory. At least 525 lightning-sparked wildfires are burning in heat- and drought-plagued British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories — including this one, imaged by the Sentinel-2 satellite on July 17, 2024:A wildfire burns in Canada's Northwest Territories, as seen in this image acquired by the Sentinel-2 satellite on July 17, 2024. (Credit: Modified Copernicus Sentinel data processed by Tom Yul ...read more