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Is the scientific status of astrobiology undermined by the lack of evidence for alien life, the problematic influence of science fiction, or the use of ‘astrobiology’ as a buzzword for attracting funding? Here we defend the emerging discipline.
The search for life elsewhere involves variables across multiple scales in time and space, often nested hierarchically. We suggest that the emergence of artificial intelligence learning systems offers critically important ways to make progress.
The testing of a direct-ascent anti-satellite weapon on 15 November 2021 has prompted renewed efforts in space arms control. A multilateral treaty banning all destructive anti-satellite weapon tests is urgently needed.
Budget pressures at NASA, specifically arising from the increasing costs of several planetary science mission programmes, have rendered the Venus orbiter VERITAS as collateral damage. Currently on subsistence funding, mission scientists worry about the impact of ongoing delays on Venus exploration.
The NANOGrav collaboration has found light-years long gravitational waves from, most likely, the mergers of millions of supermassive black holes. To keep watching this cosmic dance, we need sustained funding for black hole research.
It’s been an eventful year for robotic missions. From probes of Solar System bodies to large-scale cosmic structures, advances in our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Universe gather speed.
A recent survey suggests that reducing the number of meetings and conferences is a viable way to address concerns about the effectiveness of the modern scientific collaboration process, its effects on the environment and the well-being of the community.
The traditional conference format has been with us for more than a century, and yet the contemporary version remains similar in many ways. Can emerging technologies enable conferencing to evolve? The Future of Meetings community of practice present their findings from bringing virtual reality to three recent conferences.
Hubert Reeves, a most renowned astrophysicist for both his scientific accomplishments and outstanding outreach efforts, passed away on 13 October 2023.
In academia, we ignore the whole person to the detriment of the growth of the scientist and the community. Trauma is a black hole eating away at the health of individual scientists.
Charles Gammie and colleagues wrote the HARM code to tackle the extreme physics close to a spinning black hole. Twenty years later, it is performing a similar task in three dimensions in 1/10,000th of the time.
Astronomy has always been a direct way to bring science to the public. From planetariums to books and initiatives to bring the night sky to all corners of the world, our only limit is creativity (and funding).
