It's Curtains for Enceladus
May 11, 2015
The geysers of Saturn's little moon are like sheets instead of jets, spelling trouble for theories of its ancient age and possible life.
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Solar System Reversals
February 9, 2015
The planets keep going around, but theories about them often stop and go backward or sideways. When nothing else works, send in the impactors!
Dinosaur Extinction Was Global
January 19, 2015
Whatever killed the dinosaurs took place quickly in both North America and Europe simultaneously.
Comet Ocean Theory Debunked
December 11, 2014
Data from the Rosetta mission debunk the notion that comets brought Earth's ocean water. Now they're hoping asteroids could have.
Impacts: Creators or Destroyers?
September 3, 2014
Some astronomers invest a lot of creative power in bangs, crashes and explosions.
Fluffballs in Space Shouldn't Exist
August 18, 2014
A rubble-pile asteroid has such low density it should have disintegrated, but it's doing just fine.
Rosetta and the Stone
August 6, 2014
A historic comet rendezvous mission begins today after ten years in space.
Dinosaur Extinction Story Becomes More Chancy
July 29, 2014
Why did dinosaurs die but birds and butterflies survive? The latest idea involves sheer dumb luck.
Every Planet Surprises Secular Astronomers, I: Inner Planets
May 3, 2014
"Surprise" or "puzzling" are the most common words in news reports about bodies in the solar system. Here are recent examples that discuss the inner planets.
Extreme Speculation Presented as Science
December 11, 2013
Things no one could possibly ever know are being reported by science journals and news sites as things worthy of scientific faith.
Evolutionary Origin-of-Life Speculations Contradict Each Other
November 9, 2013
Good scientific approaches should converge on the truth. In secular origin-of-life studies, theories run off in all directions, often crashing into one another.
Was Charlemagne Protected from a Cosmic Disaster? A Carbon-14 Mystery
January 22, 2013
Tree ring data from the 8th century hint that a cosmic catastrophe was averted on the "privileged planet."
Is This Any Way to Learn About the Origin of Life?
September 22, 2012
Pollute, freeze, zap. Goal: "to better understand how life arose on Earth."
Asteroids as Water Balloons Gave Us Oceans
July 23, 2012
Planetary scientists are looking to asteroids as the source of Earth's water – not from evidence, but from desperation.