Rafi Letzter
Rafi wrote for Live Science from 2017 until 2021, when he became a technical writer for IBM Quantum. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of journalism. You can find his past science reporting at Inverse, Business Insider and Popular Science, and his past photojournalism on the Flash90 wire service and in the pages of The Courier Post of southern New Jersey.
Latest articles by Rafi Letzter
![NASA's IceBridge project captured this view of a strange rectangular-shaped iceberg in Antarctica in October 2018.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CZdG6deeRrfGcZ7tAwXorA-320-80.jpg)
NASA Figures Out Where Weirdly Rectangular Iceberg Was Born
By Rafi Letzter published
NASA went back and looked at how that weirdly rectangular iceberg formed. What they found surprised them.
![ice cave](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NRLEuYUsJRnhZ4ZR5jJuXW-320-80.jpg)
A Deadly, Fast-Spreading Form of Super-Ice Could Be Killing Off Alien Life-Forms
By Rafi Letzter published
Ice that forms at a speed faster than sound could be ripping life on alien planets to shreds before it even has a chance to get going.
![The USS John Finn launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile, which successfully intercepted a fake nuclear missile in space on Oct. 26, 2018, over Hawaii.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ia9X93wEMZtg75kvGxmXq4-320-80.jpg)
The US Shot Down a Fake Nuclear Missile in Space with Another Missile (Video)
By Rafi Letzter published
It was the second-ever success for the joint missile defense program, and a stunning technological accomplishment.
![square-iceberg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5Ndtfr5Jh5Zu8ojGmeAiE9-320-80.jpg)
NASA's Found a Weird, Rectangular Iceberg in Antarctica
By Rafi Letzter published
A NASA photograph revealed an extremely weird-looking iceberg. A NASA scientist explained why.
![This simulated image shows the dust rings around a migrating exoplanet, with the small dust forming a ring interior to the planet and the large dust forming a ring on the outside of the planet.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xvarXctaD3vxLgJ6y3ZvEb-320-80.jpg)
Exoplanet Hunters Have a New Plan to Spot Hidden 'Migrating' Worlds
By Rafi Letzter published
There's a telescope that can see thick rings of dust in distant star systems. And researchers want to use its data in a new way to spot hidden and migrating exoplanets.
![What would you do if you saw this thing in your walnut orchard?](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vWR52yn8ifSMYbzRKY7mj7-320-80.jpg)
This Hunk of Metal Fell From Space and Landed in California
By Rafi Letzter published
Iridium 70 fell out of orbit Oct. 10. A few days later, one of its fuel tanks caused a stir in central California.
![3D illustration of enhanced human](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/eLXVHUkUw6t6zyteZkqqaD-320-80.jpg)
Stephen Hawking Said 'Superhumans' Will Replace Us. Was He Right?
By Rafi Letzter published
Are we all going to be replaced?
![lhc](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jjqkYMHUWgMDdmGwBoiGFn-320-80.jpg)
Mysterious Leptoquarks Could Bind Both Types of Matter. That Is, If They Exist
By Rafi Letzter published
The leptoquark is down to couple with leptons and quarks.
![SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Dec. 22, 2017, with bystanders on the ground getting a gorgeous light show.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9pNZ7RdKwmcfBR6Zhnj5U5-320-80.jpg)
US Air Force: Don't Worry About Those Weird Lights and Booms Sunday, It's Just a Spaceship
By Rafi Letzter published
SpaceX will attempt to launch and land a rocket on the West Coast Sunday, and the USAF wants Californians to know in advance so they won't worry.
![dark matter map](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fYnEJFrWgngDgsYNE5f5Wn-320-80.jpg)
Scientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is Hiding in the Universe
By Rafi Letzter published
A new map of dark matter all over the universe could reveal things scientists don't know about dark energy.
![A team recovers NASA's Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) after a successful flight.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oVZDAhFRiRgLpqG2nGXqmU-320-80.jpg)
Bizarre Particles Keep Flying Out of Antarctica's Ice, and They Might Shatter Modern Physics
By Rafi Letzter published
There's something out there that physicists have never seen before, and it's coming up from the bottom of the Earth. Scientists think it's a brand-new particle.
![artist's depiction of a black hole](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/2MCz3h69NKkVr6gEZkeHyT-320-80.jpg)
Primeval Black Holes Could Reveal How the Universe Formed
By Rafi Letzter published
Very close to the very beginning, scientists think, there were black holes. And now they know how to find them.
![Sparks flew when the Takeyama Lab magnet turned on in a recent experiment.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pPj4zSbeEugyMqCcYCbkCd-320-80.jpg)
This Super-Strong Magnet Literally Blew the Doors Off a Tokyo Laboratory
By Rafi Letzter published
There's a magnet in a secure room in Tokyo. The last time its designers switched it on, it blew open the heavy doors designed to keep it contained.
![Elon Musk has claimed his Big Falcon Rocket crew vehicle might one day land on the moon. But that's not in the cards for any missions in the foreseeable future.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yg5eJgUpdVDqZZr7tBXofJ-320-80.jpg)
Why the SpaceX Lunar Tourists Won't Walk on the Moon
By Rafi Letzter published
Twelve people have walked on the moon, and Elon Musk won't add any Japanese billionaires to that number anytime soon.
![Hurricane Florence's eye is seen from the ISS.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/89LFsm6Cm65WXFZNDsAapE-320-80.jpeg)
Hurricane Florence Is 50 Miles Larger, with 50% More Rain, Thanks to Climate Change
By Rafi Letzter published
For the first time, researchers have calculated the impact of climate change on a hurricane before it actually hits land.
![Florence made landfall this morning (Sept 14) along the South Carolina-North Carolina border.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6JBwA9YxPHzRqxeDY39ukc-320-80.jpg)
Hurricane Florence Is Dumping a Huge Amount of Rain on the Carolinas
By Rafi Letzter published
The storm's winds are no longer as strong as they once were, but the rainfall is already approaching 'catastrophic.'
![light](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vy2DPGpWRrW4ZCsobU383n-320-80.jpg)
7 Quantum Particles Act Like Billions in Weird Physics Experiment
By Rafi Letzter published
Just seven photons in a mirrored trap formed a Bose-Einstein condensate, one of the more exotic particle states — and one usually reserved for matter.
![An artist's illustration shows what galactic wind might have looked like flowing out of a galaxy in the early universe.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zvXjLBXM4Y2QDwEDw74YPC-320-80.jpg)
Scientists Spot Ancient, Ultra-Fast Wind from the Early Universe
By Rafi Letzter published
Galaxies use powerful winds to save themselves from early deaths. And researchers just spotted one from just a billion years after the Big Bang.
![Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, shown here in 2011, discovered the radio pulsar when she was a graduate student.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6nimr6DnUrFgwA25j9xwzf-320-80.jpg)
Scientist Robbed of Nobel in 1974 Finally Wins $3 Million Physics Prize — And Gives It Away
By Rafi Letzter published
Jocelyn Bell Burnell shocked the physics world when she discovered radio pulsars. But the Nobel committee gave the 1974 award to her supervisor instead.
![Dark Photons](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qumVQxeaPj9g2woRR49x45-320-80.jpg)
Physicists, Hunting the 'Dark Photon,' Will Blast a Diamond with Antimatter
By Rafi Letzter published
A new experiment in Italy will seek an unlikely particle that some scientists think could unlock the "dark sector" of our universe.
![colorful earth](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/taHVYXtFfz2Ue5nPsgWAWC-320-80.jpg)
Glowing NASA Map Shows Huge Dust Clouds Swirling Across Earth
By Rafi Letzter published
We live our whole lives wandering from one cloud of dust to the next. A new NASA image lets you see that for yourself.
![An image of NASA's Worldview highlights in red regions of the planet where satellite thermal imagers detect actively burning fires.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jHKJ3btU7KKSjfMGVz2Hc7-320-80.jpg)
A Whole Lot of the Planet Is on Fire Right Now
By Rafi Letzter published
NASA's latest images of the world from space reveal just how much of planet Earth is straight-up burning right now.
![An image of the cosmic microwave background](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UCRij3NnxfvQAHS64qKva8-320-80.jpg)
Physicists Think They've Spotted the Ghosts of Black Holes from Another Universe
By Rafi Letzter published
Get the Space.com Newsletter
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!