Category: Science

The spectacular image shows a “cosmic tornado” being burped out from a baby star.

Skygazers have been waiting for over a year to see a recurrent nova that creates a temporary, super-bright star every 80 years or so. A new study suggests that it could finally happen this week — but nothing is certain.

NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson points to the Expedition 71 patch on her flight suit as she answers a question from students, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Washington. Dyson and fellow crewmates Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps served as part of Expedition 71 aboard the International Space Station.

Auroras are possible over the U.S. tonight (March 25) as a “moderate” geomagnetic storm hits Earth.

A giant whirlpool of light, known as a “SpaceX spiral,” was recently spotted swirling across the night sky over Europe as a Falcon 9 rocket prepared to reenter Earth’s atmosphere after deploying top-secret cargo.

NASA’s Curiosity Rover has discovered long carbon chains on Mars. On Earth, molecules like these are overwhelmingly produced by biological processes.

Mia Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, died three years after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, a brain cancer that is nearly always fatal. (Image credit: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

What would you do if you had more hours in a day? Here’s how to carve out time for your interests and passions — even when you have a lot of responsibilities. (Image credit: Pandagolik)

Baseball season is nigh! From Yankee stadium in New York to Dodger stadium in Los Angeles, teams around the country will face off Thursday to mark the start of the 2025 MLB season. And when we here at Short Wave think of baseball, we naturally think of physics. To get the inside scoop on the physics of baseball, like how to hit a home run, we talk to Frederic Bertley, CEO and President of the Center of Science and Industry, a science museum in Columbus, Ohio. In this encore episode, he also talks to host Regina G. Barber about how climate change is affecting the game. Interested in the science of other sports? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we’d love to hear from you.

Alef has billed its Model A electric vehicle, which is capable of operating both as a road-based car and as an aircraft, as the cure for congestion.

Use the best solar binoculars to get a better look at the upcoming partial solar eclipse on March 29 while protecting your eyes, or observe the sun at any time of year and see sun spots and more.

Scientists have gotten the best-ever view of ‘space tornadoes’ howling near the Milky Way’s black hole. The cosmic twisters could play an important role in distributing organic molecules throughout the galaxy.

The Tumaco-Tolita people, who lived in an area rich in natural gold, crafted intricate and delicate metal objects until the group disappeared 1,500 years ago.

Fossil fuels powered the industrial revolution. Would aliens need a similar power source to jump-start a technical revolution?