All Stories by Lisa Grossman
- Animals
What do animals do during a solar eclipse?
A citizen-science experiment used the Great American Eclipse of 2017 to gather the largest dataset ever of animal responses to a sun-block.
- Earth
Scientists probe how an eclipse affects Earth’s atmosphere
Parts of the electrically charged layer of Earth’s atmosphere lose that charge in an eclipse. Scientists are studying how it might affect everything from GPS accuracy to earthquake prediction.
- Planets
Early solar system may have slung giant mud balls
The first asteroids may have been great balls of mud. That could solve some puzzling traits of meteorites.
- Space
Newfound stars rank as farthest and one of the smallest
Astronomers have found two stars for the record books — the most distant ever observed and one of the tiniest now known.
- Space
Robot grippers imitate gecko feet to help nab space junk
NASA is testing robotic, gecko-inspired gripper hands that might one day help clean up space junk.
- Space
Early moon may have had metallic skies and gale-force winds
A glowing infant Earth could have heated the early moon’s metals to create an atmosphere.
- Planets
Small, distant worlds are either big Earths or little Neptunes
The Kepler space telescope data are in. They split Earth-like exoplanets into two groups and reveal 10 new rocky planets in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone.
- Planets
Jupiter may be the solar system’s oldest planet
Jupiter’s early existence may explain the odd arrangement of planets in the solar system, a new study suggests.
- Science & Society
Scientist profile: Leroy Hood
The inventor of the DNA sequencing technique, and Albert Lasker Awardee, embarks on the next big challenge.
