In the News

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas.
I'm frightened of the old ones.
John Cage

Archive of previous years' news

TODAY: Astronomy Picture of the Day -- NASA GSFC

AUGUST

August 28, 2008: Fermi's first light -- APOD
August 28, 2008: Cluster watches Earth's leaky atmosphere -- ESA
August 26, 2008: XMM-Newton's massive discovery -- Astronomy.com
August 26, 2008: NASA renames observatory for Fermi, reveals entire gamma-ray sky -- NASA
August 25, 2008: 'Magnetic cows' are visible from space -- Nature
August 25, 2008: Double first for Large Hadron Collider -- Nature
August 23, 2008: The matter of the Bullet Cluster -- APOD
August 22, 2008: Active Galaxy NGC 1275 -- APOD
August 22, 2008: Some solar flares may be caused by dark matter -- New Scientist
August 21, 2008: August moons -- APOD
August 21, 2008: Sunspot pair observed today -- Universe Today
August 19, 2008: Chemist travels world to study mysterious properties of neutrinos -- Brookhaven National Lab
August 19, 2008: Living with a star -- Science@NASA
August 18, 2008: Baily's beads near solar eclipse totality -- APOD
August 13, 2008: NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula -- APOD
August 13, 2008: Physicists await dark matter confirmation -- Nature
August 8, 2008: The crown of the sun -- APOD
August 7, 2008: At the sun's edge -- APOD
August 6, 2008: Jupiter and Saturn full of liquid metal helium -- UC Berkeley
August 5, 2008: A total solar eclipse over China -- APOD
August 5, 2008: Eclipse darkens NW China, a week before Olympics -- Scientific American
August 4, 2008: China becomes a physics powerhouse -- Science Daily
August 2, 2008: Eclipse shirt -- APOD
August 1, 2008: Eclipse blankets Russia; thousands watch in awe -- Scientific American

JULY

July 31, 2008: A brief history of solar sails -- Science@NASA
July 31, 2008: Eclipse expert makes hot finds in sun's darkest hour -- National Geographic
July 31, 2008: Solar-cell material can soak up more sun -- New Scientist
July 30, 2008: The International Space Station transits the sun -- APOD
July 30, 2008: Voyaging to the stars on a solar breeze -- Scientific American
July 29, 2008: Partial eclipse, total fun -- Science@NASA
July 29, 2008: News: Q&A - Edward Weiler -- Nature
July 29, 2008: Timeline: The 1859 solar superstorm -- Scientific American
July 28, 2008: Bracing the satellite infrastructure for a solar superstorm -- Scientific American
July 26, 2008: Central IC 1805 -- APOD
July 25, 2008: The secrets of the northern lights -- Astronomy.com
July 25, 2008: 'Impressionist' spacecraft to view Solar System's invisible frontier -- NASA
July 25, 2008: Tracking down origin of matter and antimatter -- Science Daily
July 24, 2008: Aurora "power surges" triggered by magnetic explosions -- National Geographic
July 24, 2008: NASA satellites discover what powers northern lights -- NASA HQ
July 23, 2008: Magnetic fields stronger than expected -- Astronomy.com
July 22, 2008: Total solar eclipse on August 1: Where, how to see it -- National Geographic
July 21, 2008: APL-led team wins NSF grant to develop new observatory for Earth's space environment -- JHU APL
July 19, 2008: Early galaxies had magnetic fields as strong as today's -- New Scientist
July 19, 2008: Asteroid switched Mars' magnetic field on and off -- New Scientist
July 18, 2008: A super mix inside neutron stars -- Physical Review Focus
July 16, 2008: Where balloons have made advances -- Nature
July 16, 2008: Galaxies' mysterious magnetic fields grew up fast -- Scientific American
July 14, 2008: Particles retain weight for billions of years -- Space.com
July 11, 2008: The Far 3kpc Arm -- APOD
July 11, 2008: What's wrong with the sun? (Nothing) -- Science@NASA
July 11, 2008: Japanese particle-physics leader dies -- Physics World
July 10, 2008: Science: Simple, inexpensive solar energy from light-absorbing dyes -- AAAS
July 10, 2008: Enhanced color Caloris -- APOD
July 10, 2008: R&D 100 award for new UM-NIST neutron detector -- University of Maryland
July 9, 2008: Voyager 2 finds edge of solar system more complex than predicted -- JHU APL
July 9, 2008: Study puts solar spin on asteroids, their moons and Earth impacts -- University of Maryland
July 9, 2008: Physicists discover new particle: The bottom-most "Bottomonium" -- SLAC
July 5, 2008: First underwater neutrino telescope has been constructed -- Science Daily
July 4, 2008: SN1006 supernova remnant -- APOD
July 2, 2008: STEREO creates first images of the solar system's invisible frontier -- NASA
July 2, 2008: Who knew? Solar system is 'dented', not round -- CNN
July 2, 2008: As LHC draws nigh, Nobelists outline dreams -- and nightmares -- Scientific American
July 1, 2008: Solar Shield experiment aims to keep the power on -- NASA GSFC

JUNE

June 30, 2008: Earth's core, magnetic field changing fast, study says -- National Geographic
June 30, 2008: Satellites pinpoint Earth's auroral radio chatter -- Scientific American
June 26, 2008: Dark matter is denser in the solar system -- Universe Today
June 24, 2008: 'Frozen' stars could shed light on dark matter -- New Scientist
June 23, 2008: Ancient eclipse found in "The Odyssey", scientists say -- National Geographic
June 23, 2008: XMM-Newton watches lazy pulsar being jazzed up by companion -- ESA
June 21, 2008: 2012: No killer solar flare -- Universe Today
June 18, 2008: GPS inaccurate during space storms -- Space.com
June 18, 2008: The mystery of Satern's double aurorae -- Sky & Telescope
June 13, 2008: At last, GLAST -- APOD
June 10, 2008: Detective astronomers unearth hidden celestial gem -- ESA
June 10, 2008: NASA plans to visit the sun -- Science@NASA
June 9, 2008: Radio waves from Earth clear out space radiation belt -- New Scientist
June 9, 2008: Magnetic sensor that brooks no interference -- Science Daily
June 9, 2008: Sun goes longer than normal without producing sunspots -- Science Daily
June 7, 2008: Can a wormhole generate its own magnetic field? -- Universe Today
June 5, 2008: sun's corona puts a twist on its pitches -- Sky & Telescope
June 5, 2008: Communications glitch delays Mars lander digging -- Physorg
June 5, 2008: Military transmitter points to flare cure -- Australian Broadcasting Company
June 4, 2008: Physicists to target neutrinos -- Nature
June 4, 2008: Iron snow behind Mercury's magnetism -- Scientific American
June 3, 2008: Super-luminous supernovae -- Astronomy.com
June 3, 2008: Protons pair up with neutrons -- Brookhaven National Laboratory
June 3, 2008: Giant "tornadoes" seen erupting from the sun -- National Geographic
June 2, 2008: What did EV Lac? -- HEAPOW
June 2, 2008: Building a baby Earth to test its magnetic field -- NPR
June 1, 2008: A twisted solar eruptive prominence -- APOD
June 1, 2008: How to harvest solar power? Beam it down from space! -- CNN

MAY

May 31, 2008: A view to the sunset -- APOD
May 29, 2008: Astronomers map the metals in millions of Milky Way stars -- Sloan Digital Sky Survey
May 29, 2008: Scientists heat matter to hotter than surface of the sun -- Telegraph
May 29, 2008: New form of artificial radioactivity -- AIP
May 29, 2008: A fog bow over Ocean Beach -- APOD
May 29, 2008: Warm coronal loops offer clue to mysteriously hot solar atmosphere -- NASA GSFC
May 29, 2008: NASA scientists' model reveals how plasma from superstorms affects near-Earth space -- NASA GSFC
May 28, 2008: Plasma twisters seen on the sun -- Nature
May 27, 2008: Hold the old lace: Arsenic and iron material is a remarkable superconductor -- NSF
May 27, 2008: Cartwheel coronal mass ejection -- Science@NASA
May 22, 2008: Sun's properties not 'fine-tuned' for life -- New Scientist
May 21, 2008: NASA's Swift satellite catches first supernova in the act of exploding -- NASA GSFC
May 21, 2008: The many versus the one -- Physical Review Focus
May 21, 2008: Looking for ET's neutrino beam -- Physics World
May 20, 2008: LHCb measures its first cosmic-ray muons -- CERN
May 20, 2008: The enigmatic sun: A crucible for new physics -- CERN
May 20, 2008: Atomic neutrality -- CERN
May 20, 2008: Hubble Space Telescope survey finds missing matter, probes intergalactic web -- University of Colorado
May 20, 2008: Willis Lamb: 1913-2008 -- Physics World
May 19, 2008: Small star gets Swift reaction with unprecedented flare -- Univesity of Maryland
May 18, 2008: On the origin of gold -- APOD
May 16, 2008: Circles in the sky -- APOD
May 15, 2008: Can one 'pin down' electrons? -- Eurekalert
May 12, 2008: Video: Lab probes universe's secrets -- National Geographic
May 9, 2008: Colliding with nature's best-kept secrets -- CNN
May 9, 2008: Designer isotopes push the frontier of science -- NSF
May 8, 2008: Iron 'snow' helps maintain Mercury's magnetic field -- Astronomy.com
May 8, 2008: Joint ESA/NASA team wins international award -- ESA
May 7, 2008: XMM-Newton discovers part of the missing matter in the universe -- Astronomy & Astrophysics
May 6, 2008: Chasing the green flash -- Astronomy.com
May 6, 2008: A super solar flare -- Science@NASA
May 5, 2008: GRBs -- HEAPOW
May 4, 2008: An Antarctic total solar eclipse -- APOD
May 1, 2008: NASA calls on APL to send a probe to the sun -- JHU/APL
May 1, 2008: The heaviest element yet? -- Nature

APRIL

April 30, 2008: Stellar ticking time bomb explodes on cue -- NASA GSFC
April 30, 2008: Team of researchers explain how birds navigate -- ASU
April 30, 2008: 'Chemical compass' created -- Nature
April 30, 2008: Plasma physics: From black holes to radio reception -- Scientific American
April 30, 2008: 4D ionosphere -- Science@NASA
April 29, 2008: High-flying electrons may provide new test of quantum theory -- NIST
April 29, 2008: Is there a hidden order to the northern lights? -- New Scientist
April 28, 2008: 'Broken heart' image the last for NASA's long-lived Polar mission -- NASA GSFC
April 28, 2008: Found link? -- HEAPOW
April 27, 2008: The Galactic Center Radio Arc -- APOD
April 24, 2008: Northern lights glimmer with unexpected trait -- AGU
April 24, 2008: Secrets of massive black hole unveiled: Workings of giant galactic particle accelerators discovered -- Science Daily
April 24, 2008: Exotic quantum state of matter discovered -- Science Daily
April 23, 2008: Radio telescope reveals secrets of massive black hole -- NRAO
April 23, 2008: Black hole plasma jet reveals twisted magnetic fields -- New Scientist
April 21, 2008: The range of annihilation -- HEAPOW
April 21, 2008: Quarter electrons may enable exotic quantum computer -- Scientific American
April 18, 2008: Solar flares set the sun quaking -- ESA
April 18, 2008: Design begins on twin probes that will study the radiation belts -- JHU/APL
April 17, 2008: The moon and the magnetotail -- Science@NASA
April 16, 2008: Reflections offer new way to bend particles -- CERN
April 16, 2008: Particle physics proves that arsenic didn't kill Napoleon -- CERN
April 16, 2008: Finding the Higgs Boson -- AIP
April 16, 2008: Electric solar wind sail could power future space travel in solar system -- Science Daily
April 15, 2008: Sky delights over Sweden -- APOD
April 15, 2008: Space radiation may cause prolonged cellular damage to astronauts -- Eurekalert
April 14, 2008: A new nova in Cygnus -- Astronomy.com
April 14, 2008: Mission to Mars -- GSI
April 13, 2008: Curious cometary knots in the Helix Nebula -- APOD
April 12, 2008: Yuri's planet -- APOD
April 10, 2008: Optical clocks get better -- AIP
April 10, 2008: Moondust in the wind -- Science@NASA
April 9, 2008: Higgs boson: A ghost in the machine -- Time
April 9, 2008: Newly discovered fundamental state of matter, a superinsulator, has been created -- Science Daily
April 8, 2008: 'God particle' expected to be found soon -- Time
April 8, 2008: 14-year-old CEO makes chemistry a game with 'Elementeo' -- Eurekalert
April 8, 2008: New probe measures magnetic fields inside solids -- Physics World
April 7, 2008: Hot, bright, massive stars have complex mixing processes in their great depths -- Science Daily
April 7, 2008: Periodic Table: Nuclear scientists eye future landfall on a second 'Island of Stability' -- Science Daily
April 5, 2008: Magnetic substorms from ground and space -- Science Daily
April 4, 2008: Medical x-ray technique unveils the sun's corona -- Science Daily
April 3, 2008: South of Orion -- APOD
April 3, 2008: 'No sun link' to climate change -- BBC News
April 3, 2008: Matter-antimatter split hints at physics breakdown -- Scientific American
April 2, 2008: Hinode: Source of the slow solar wind and superhot flares -- ESA
April 2, 2008: Bon MOT: Innovative atom trap catches highly magnetic atoms -- Eurekalert
April 2, 2008: 'Focused' solar explosions get hotter -- NASA GSFC
April 1, 2008: Compressed stars: Physicists compress unstable nucleus of nickel 56 for first time -- Science Daily

MARCH

March 31, 2008: Old solar cycle returns -- ESA
March 31, 2008: Cycle 23 redux -- HEAPOW
March 30, 2008: Weak lensing distorts the universe -- APOD
March 28, 2008: Why matter matters in the universe -- University of Melbourne
March 27, 2008: The N44 complex -- APOD
March 25, 2008: Atom cloaking -- AIP
March 24, 2008: Physicists show electrons can travel more than 100 times faster in graphene -- University of Maryland
March 22, 2008: Cat's Eye Hubble remix -- APOD
March 20, 2008: Sunset: Planet Earth -- APOD
March 20, 2008: NASA satellite detects naked-eye explosion halfway across universe -- NASA / Swift mission
March 20, 2008: Rare cosmic rays are from far away -- Eurekalert
March 20, 2008: Science with the solar space observatory Hinode -- Astronomy & Astrophysics
March 20, 2008: Heavyweight contender -- Physical Review Focus
March 20, 2008: Spring is aurora season -- Science@NASA
March 19, 2008: Cometary x-ray emission: Using comets as natural solar wind probes -- ACE News
March 19, 2008: Japanese particle accelerator hints at 'new physics' -- New Scientist
March 18, 2008: Fly's eye detector spies cosmic-ray cut-off -- Nature
March 18, 2008: STEREO: The sun's corona unraveled in 3D -- Sky & Telescope
March 15, 2008: Crashed probe yields sun secrets -- BBC
March 13, 2008: Vanguard I celebrates 50 years in space -- Eurekalert
March 13, 2008: The solar system's first breath -- Nature
March 13, 2008: Japanese satellite first to use magnetic memory -- Scientific American
March 10, 2008: Physicist wins by-election for US Congress -- Physics World
March 9, 2008: New discovery at Jupiter could help protect Earth-orbit satellites -- Eurekalert
March 7, 2008: WMAP reveals neutrinos, end of dark age, first second of universe -- NASA
March 6, 2008: Sun's corona is both hot and kinky -- Eurekalert
March 6, 2008: Auroras in broad daylight -- Science@NASA
March 6, 2008: Vela Supernova Remnant -- APOD
March 6, 2008: Controlling most atoms now possible -- Eurekalert
March 5, 2008: Spring is aurora season -- Astronomy.com
March 5, 2008: Scientists identify origin of hiss in upper atmosphere -- Eurekalert
March 4, 2008: GLAST spacecraft arrives in Florida to prepare for launch -- NASA KSC
March 3, 2008: NASA's SDO mission to improve predictions of violent space weather -- NASA GSFC
March 3, 2008: Particle collider's last big piece set -- National Geographic

FEBRUARY

February 28, 2008: Magnetic atoms of gold, silver and copper have been obtained -- Basque Research
February 27, 2008: US experiment takes the lead in the competitive race to find dark matter -- Caltech
February 26, 2008: Earth is doomed (in 5 billion years) -- Physics World
February 26, 2008: Sun-like star flips its magnetic field like our sun: First observation -- Science Daily
February 25, 2008: Dawn of the Large Hadron Collider -- APOD
February 25, 2008: Killer electrons surf celestial tsunamis -- NASA GSFC
February 25, 2008: -- HEAPOW
February 25, 2008: Electron gets film debut in first-ever video of its kind -- Science Daily
February 22, 2008: International solar mission to end following stellar performance -- NASA
February 20, 2008: Integral: Stellar winds colliding at our cosmic doorstep -- ESA
February 19, 2008: High energy electron holes reveal unseen rings -- ESA
February 17, 2008: Clinton, Obama S&T advisers square off at AAAS -- AAAS
February 17, 2008: M1: The Crab Nebula from Hubble -- APOD
February 16, 2008: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson receives the 2007 AAAS Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award -- AAAS
February 15, 2008: NASA sponsors studies of next generation astronomy missions -- NASA
February 13, 2008: SOHO data used for real-time space radiation forecasting -- ESA
February 13, 2008: The American Institute of Physics Science Writing Awards have been named -- AIP
February 13, 2008: Sun-like star flips its magnetic field -- Astronomy.com
February 13, 2008: Predicting the radiation risk to ESA's astronauts -- ESA
February 13, 2008: Theorists weigh up new route to neutrino mass -- Physics World
February 8, 2008: New AAAS-National School Boards Association training materials to help bolster science education at the local level -- AAAS
February 8, 2008: NASA calls for suggestions to rename future telescope mission -- NASA GSFC
February 7, 2008: Particle accelerator: Signals sent racing ahead at light speed to keep particles colliding -- Science Daily
February 6, 2008: A sunspot in the new solar cycle -- APOD
February 5, 2008: 50 years of Physical Review Letters -- Physical Review Letters
February 1, 2008: The first explorer -- APOD
February 1, 2008: Dark fluid: Dark matter and dark energy may be two faces of the same coin -- Science Daily

JANUARY

January 31, 2008: New discovery on magnetic reconnection to impact future space missions -- Science Daily
January 30, 2008: Mercury's magnetosphere fends off the solar wind -- Eurekalert
January 30, 2008: NASA astrophysicist wins Arctowski Medal -- NASA GSFC
January 30, 2008: Explorer I resolution introduced to commemorate 50th anniversary of the birth of the US space program -- US House of Representatives
January 30, 2008: Galaxy distortions shed light on cosmic acceleration -- Physics World
January 29, 2008: Space weather science rues cuts -- BBC
January 29, 2008: Nowhere to hide: New ultra-powerful microscope probes atomic world -- Science Daily
January 28, 2008: A solar eclipse painting from the 1700s -- APOD
January 27, 2008: Giant particle accelerator discovered in the sky -- Science Daily
January 24, 2008: AAAS joins call for presidential debate on science and innovation issues -- AAAS
January 24, 2008: Do cosmic rays cause lightning? -- Scientific American
January 23, 2008: A new calculation explains the mechanics behind carbon dating -- AIP
January 23, 2008: Landmarks: What makes the stars shine? -- Physical Review Focus
January 22, 2008: Milky Way's antimatter linked to exotic black holes -- New Scientist
January 22, 2008: Future of top U.S. particle physics lab in jeopardy -- Scientific American
January 22, 2008: CERN: Celebrating the lowering of the final detector element for Large Hadron Collider -- Science Daily
January 21, 2008: Ring around the sun -- NASA HEAPOW
January 18, 2008: 'Invisible Sky' presents NASA images in Braille -- NPR
January 18, 2008: Abundances and energy spectra of CIR heavy ions during Solar Cycle 23 -- ACE News
January 17, 2008: The future of physics -- Scientific American
January 17, 2008: Large Hadron Collider: The discovery machine -- Scientific American
January 17, 2008: The coming revolutions in particle physics -- Scientific American
January 16, 2008: Author Caroline Wagner urges more inclusive global science cooperation -- AAAS
January 16, 2008: Upgraded neutrino detector could root out dark matter -- New Scientist
January 15, 2008: National Science Board releases Science and Engineering Indicators 2008 -- NSF
January 14, 2008: Ulysses spacecraft flies over sun's north pole -- NASA JPL
January 14, 2008: SOHO: The new solar cycle starts with a 'bang' -- ESA
January 10, 2008: Active galaxy Centaurus A -- APOD
January 10, 2008: Centaurus A exposed -- Astronomy.com
January 9, 2008: Integral discovers the galaxy's antimatter cloud is lopsided -- ESA
January 9, 2008: Vast cloud of antimatter traced to binary stars -- NASA GSFC
January 9, 2008: Japanese particle physics in good health -- Physics World
January 8, 2008: Hubble finds that "blue blobs" in space are orphaned clusters of stars -- HubbleSite
January 8, 2008: For remote control cells, just add magnets -- Scientific American
January 7, 2008: 'Maverick' sunspot heralds new solar cycle -- New Scientist
January 4, 2008: Scientific balloons achieve Antarctic flight record -- NSF
January 2, 2008: White dwarf pulses like a pulsar -- NASA GSFC
January 2, 2008: Biomedical engineering study demonstrates the healing value of magnets -- University of Virginia
January 2, 2008: Third instrument for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory arrives at Goddard -- NASA GSFC
January 2, 2008: Large Hadron Collider at CERN expected to go live summer of 2008 -- Science Daily
January 2, 2008: Hot on the trail of cosmic rays -- Space.com
January 1, 2008: Rays from an unexpected aurora -- APOD
January 1, 2008: Important days in history of universe -- CNN

Archive of previous years' news

Cosmicopia News from 2007

Cosmicopia News from 2006

Cosmicopia News from 2005

Cosmicopia News from 2004

Cosmicopia News from 2003

Cosmicopia News from 2002

Cosmicopia News from 2001

Cosmicopia News from 2000

Cosmicopia News from 1999

Cosmicopia News from 1998

Cosmicopia News from 1997