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Astrophysics

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The Universe Is Not a Simulation, but We Can Now Simulate It

June 12, 2018

Computer simulations have become so accurate that cosmologists can now use them to study dark matter, supermassive black holes and other mysteries of the real evolving cosmos.

CRISPR Gene-Editing Pioneers Win Kavli Prize for Nanoscience

May 31, 2018

The inventors of a “Swiss army knife” for genome editing received prestigious honors, as did pioneering scientists in astrophysics and neuroscience.

Stellar Disks Reveal How Planets Get Made

May 21, 2018

Detailed images of disks swirling around young stars show the details of how solar systems come to be.

A New World’s Extraordinary Orbit Points to Planet Nine

May 15, 2018

Astronomers argue that there’s an undiscovered giant planet far beyond the orbit of Neptune. A newly discovered rocky body has added evidence to the circumstantial case for it.

What Astronomers Are Learning From Gaia’s New Milky Way Map

May 8, 2018

A roundup of some of the most important discoveries gleaned so far from the Gaia space observatory’s new map of the galaxy.

A Radically Conservative Solution for Cosmology’s Biggest Mystery

May 1, 2018

Two ways of measuring the universe’s expansion rate yield two conflicting answers. Many point to the possibility of new physics at work, but a new analysis argues that unseen errors could be to blame.

Troubled Times for Alternatives to Einstein’s Theory of Gravity

April 30, 2018

New observations of extreme astrophysical systems have “brutally and pitilessly murdered” attempts to replace Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

Q&A

A Revealer of Secrets in the Data of Life and the Universe

April 11, 2018

The statistician Donald Richards lives to uncover subtle patterns hiding in real-world data.

Whisper From the First Stars Sets Off Loud Dark Matter Debate

March 29, 2018

A surprise discovery announced a month ago suggested that the early universe looked very different than previously believed. Initial theories that the discrepancy was due to dark matter have come under fire.

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