18 April 2025
Whenever there’s even a slight chance that an exoplanet shows signs of biological activity, people understandably get excited – but it’s never been aliens, and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, not this time or the next, says Chris Lintott
9 April 2025
Pluto isn’t the only dwarf planet in our solar system's outer reaches. Now is an ideal time to look for the egg-shaped Haumea, says Abigail Beall
10 February 2025
There are many theories about how dynamics in the early solar system led to the cosmic neighbourhood we now inhabit, but beyond computer simulations, direct evidence to support them is hard to come by – that's where meteorites come in
13 January 2025
Volcanoes have been proposed as the reason for the extinction of the Neanderthals and the hobbits of Indonesia, but the end of those species may not have come from a single, dramatic event
2 December 2024
Plate tectonics seems to be crucial for life on Earth, but we’ve never confirmed that it happens on other worlds - that may be about to change
5 November 2024
A small world in the outer solar system appears to have volcanic activity possibly spurred by liquid water
26 September 2024
Astronomers listened for radio signals emanating from planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, but found no evidence of any interplanetary communications
26 September 2024
A distant planet should have been consumed when its star expanded to become a red giant, perhaps offering insights into planetary migration
30 August 2024
Brown dwarfs could be hiding dark matter inside their cores – if they are, there would be signs that could help us track it down
6 August 2024
A planet orbiting extremely close to a white dwarf may have formed inside its star – this could be the origin of some of the most promising worlds beyond our solar system to search for life
