Space
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On Discovering Life
March 14, 2011
Two separate quests, one to discover habitable worlds, the other to synthesize artificial organisms, now unite to redefine “life” and its place in the universe.
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Death for “Arsenic-Based Life”?
December 07, 2010
A hotly anticipated announcement last week from NASA that scientists had discovered an exotic form of life ended up revealing more about science journalism than astrobiology.
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G is for Goldilocks
October 01, 2010
Gliese 581g is the most promising habitable world astronomers have found so far. But the chances of finding life there are vanishingly slim.
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Sniffing Out ET
September 01, 2010
The discovery of potentially habitable planets beyond our solar system is imminent. But no one really knows when we might learn whether any of those distant worlds are inhabited.
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Ebbs and Flows
August 27, 2010
Alien-yet-familiar worlds are discovered around distant stars, extreme weather batters the Earth, stimulus spending energizes renewables, and the stem-cell debate reignites.
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Music of the Spheres
August 17, 2010
The composers of One Ring Zero’s new astronomy-themed album, PLANETS, discuss the scientific inspiration behind their music.
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Life in a Box
August 02, 2010
In Packing for Mars, Mary Roach reveals that space exploration is really an exploration of what it means to be human. In this exclusive excerpt, she talks with former cosmonauts about the psychological challenge of living in space.
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From Galileo to Cassini
July 27, 2010
Four hundred years ago, Galileo turned his telescope toward Saturn for the first time. But instead of rings, he saw something quite different.
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An Embarrassment of Riches
June 18, 2010
Kepler’s planetary gold rush, a Japanese spacecraft that rides sunlight, a virtual Cambrian explosion, and the problem of performance metrics.
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A Titanic Challenge
June 11, 2010
What might a glut of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico—and a dearth of them on Saturn's moon, Titan—imply about humanity's long-term prospects?
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We Are Not Alone
April 20, 2010
In his new book, astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch says that extraterrestrial life has already been found.
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The Rocket Experience
April 15, 2010
The Obama administration unveils its controversial new plan for the future of NASA’s human spaceflight program.
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Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens
April 13, 2010
Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the first radio-based search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). In that half-century, SETI found no signs of aliens. In 2006, the evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller gave Seed his theory for why we haven’t heard anything.
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Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
March 15, 2010
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
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Extinction’s Tipping Points
March 12, 2010
How the extinction of the dinosaurs, Arctic methane leaks, and nuclear weaponry reveal the precarious thresholds of life on Earth.
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The Ancient, Distant, and Dead
March 04, 2010
Inspired by scientific research, Katie Paterson creates art based on data from faraway melting glaciers, long-dead stars, and the initial moments of the universe.
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The Ends of Earth, and Beyond
March 02, 2010
To answer the most pressing questions about the origins of the universe, scientists must retreat to isolated pinnacles in the Andes or the South Pole. Anil Ananthaswamy follows in their footsteps in his new book.
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Illuminating Dark Economies
February 08, 2010
Measuring economic activity from outer space is a new frontier in the struggle to quantify humanity’s impact on the natural world.
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Star Crossed
February 05, 2010
With the announcement of the new budget, the Constellation program’s loss is many other agencies' gain. Meanwhile, Iran sends some critters into orbit.
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Slate of the Union
January 29, 2010
A few hours after Steve Jobs announced the iPad, President Obama delivered a slightly more important speech. What he said—and didn’t say—about the future of science funding and NASA.
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Repository of the Cosmos
January 14, 2010
We visit Neil deGrasse Tyson to talk about his role as “servant to the public appetite of the universe” and all of the odd things that accumulate in his office.
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Portfolio: Red Sky at Night
December 22, 2009
The galactic center is brought to life by telescopes scanning across the electromagnetic spectrum, exposing star nurseries unseen via visible or UV light.
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What a Water-Full World
December 18, 2009
The discovery of an ocean-covered planet prompts reflections on the purpose, cost, and value of our forays into the great unknown of outer space.
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Works in Progress
December 03, 2009
Whether it is climate change or life on Mars, revealing the hairy—and human—underbelly of how science is done means controversy for the public at large.
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Intergalactic Controversy
December 02, 2009
New observations of galactic clusters have revealed a controversial phenomenon called “dark flow,” which could be a sign of parallel universes.
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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Ideas
I Tried Almost Everything Else
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
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Ideas
Going, Going, Gone
The second most common element in the universe is increasingly rare on Earth—except, for now, in America.
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Ideas
Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
