Latest articles by Paul Sutter
Humans could become a truly interplanetary species within 200 years, physicists claim
Harness renewable energy to explore the cosmos or risk planetary doom, new physics study argues.
The 'twin paradox' shows us what it really means for time to be relative
What goes for moving clocks goes for everything else; physics, chemistry and biology all operate at a slower pace in moving frames of reference.
Stronger gravity in the early universe may solve a cosmological conundrum
The inflationary epoch that caused our universe to rapidly expand in its earliest moments may be connected to the modern era of dark energy.
Did the Milky Way's huge black hole kill all the red giants around it?
A massive jet launched from our galaxy's supermassive black hole may have destroyed any red giant stars that wandered into its path, a new study suggests.
Venus-like worlds are surprisingly common in 'habitable' zones
The current definition of habitable zone only examines the amount of sunlight reaching a planet. It may be time to question that definition.
5 failed alternatives to the Big Bang theory and why they didn't work
Over the decades, the Big Bang theory has taken on some pretty heavy challengers. Let's explore those alternatives and why they didn't work.
Is the origin of dark matter gravity itself?
Did the graviton, the quantum mechanical force carrier of gravity, flood the cosmos with dark matter before normal matter even had a chance to get started?
We can build a real, traversable wormhole … if the universe has extra dimensions
It may be possible to build a real, traversable wormhole, but only if our universe has extra dimensions, a team of physicists has found.
Our universe may have a twin that runs backward in time
A mirror universe that runs backward in time sprouted up before the Big Bang.
Life as we know it would not exist without this highly unusual number
The fine-structure constant is a seemingly random number with no units or dimensions, which has cropped up in so many places in physics, and seems to control one of the most fundamental interactions in the universe.
Will our solar system survive the death of our sun?
Our sun's death is a long way off — about 4.5 billion years, give or take — but someday it's going to happen, and what then for our solar system?
How much of the solar system is made of interstellar stuff?
The detection of interstellar objects in the solar system has raised an interesting question: How much of the solar system is made of foreign material?
Strange dwarf planet Ceres may have formed at the icy edges of the solar system
Ceres is the most dominant member of the asteroid belt but it doesn't look like the other asteroids.
Spiderweb of wormholes could solve a black hole paradox 1st proposed by Stephen Hawking
A seemingly intractable black hole paradox first proposed by physicist Stephen Hawking could finally be resolved — by wormholes through space-time.
Chaos theory explained: A deep dive into an unpredictable universe
Reference Chaos theory explains the behavior of dynamic systems like weather, which are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. They cannot be truly predicted.
How Lagrange points solved one of physics' biggest problems
The origins of the Lagrange points are sunk deep within one of the most difficult problems faced by mathematicians and physicists over the past 400 years: the three-body problem.
What black holes can teach us about traffic jams
If you've ever been stuck in a nightmare traffic jam, you know that "black hole from which you can never escape" captures the feeling well.
Mysterious globular clusters could unlock the secrets of galaxy formation
Globular clusters are like astronomical coelacanths — mysterious living fossils. These densely packed collections of ancient stars may hold the ultimate secrets to the formation of galaxies.
Too much of a good thing: Early impacts delivered iron to Earth but almost wiped out life
A recent study has found that the hazards posed by large impactors far outweighed their benefits for life on Earth.
Physicists get closer than ever to measuring the elusive neutrino
Scientists used a 200-ton "neutrino scale" to measure the elusive particles.
Is there anything beyond the universe?
What's beyond the known limits? What lies outside the boundary of the universe? The answer is — well, it's complicated.
Loop quantum gravity: Does space-time come in tiny chunks?
Quantum mechanics tells us that the forces of nature come in discrete, tiny chunks. Gravity, the bending of space-time, is a force. So is space-time quantized as well?
Is there really a 'crisis' in cosmology?
You may have heard about the "cosmology crisis:" Different methods of measuring the age of the universe are giving different results, and cosmologists have no idea why.
