Tom Metcalfe

Live Science Contributor

Tom Metcalfe is a freelance journalist and regular Live Science contributor who is based in London in the United Kingdom. Tom writes mainly about science, space, archaeology, the Earth and the oceans. He has also written for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & Space, and many others.

Latest articles by Tom Metcalfe

The scientists on the expedition hope that two specialized arrays of metal detectors, towed by snowmobiles, will reveal iron meteorites from the early solar system just below the icy surface.

'Lost' Iron Meteorites May Lurk Beneath Antarctic Ice. Scientists on Quest to Find Them.

By Tom Metcalfe published

Scientists are scouring the remote Antarctic ice cap for rare meteorites chock-full of iron and holding secrets to the history of our solar system going back some 4.5 billion years.

Meteors & Meteor Showers
Russia's Skybot F-850: "Not a Terminator" but a space robot, and will launch to the International Space Station on a Soyuz space capsule in August 2019.

Meet Skybot F-850, the Humanoid Robot Russia Is Launching into Space

By Tom Metcalfe published

When a Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches from Kazakhstan for the International Space Station Wednesday, it will carry a humanoid robot called Skybot F-850.

Tech
The galaxy NGC 4485 has been dramatically warped by a larger neighbor, NGC 4490, out of frame to the bottom right in this image.

Titanic Galactic Collision Left One Galaxy Twisted and Warped, Hubble Reveals

By Tom Metcalfe published

A new photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the spectacular consequences when two galaxies collide.

Hubble Space Telescope
The Airbus Zephyr drone launches for its record-setting flight on July 11.

Pseudo-Satellite Drone Flies for 25 Days Straight, Sets Endurance Record

By Tom Metcalfe published

The Zephyr drone could be used for military reconnaissance and wildfire monitoring, among other activities.

Satellites
fusion stock image

Nuclear Fusion Power Could Be Here by 2030, One Company Says

By Tom Metcalfe published

This is a major advance on the way to achieving fusion energy.

Tech
The submarine probe will navigate Titan's seas of methane and ethane, at temperatures of minus 300 degrees F.

A Little Robotic Submarine Could Ply Alien Seas

By Tom Metcalfe published

Researchers have been testing the sub in a bucket-sized mock alien ocean in a lab.

Tech
The iron dagger found in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun dates to around 1350 B.C., about 200 years before the Iron Age.

King Tut's Dagger Is 'Out of This World'

By Tom Metcalfe published

Solar System
This photo, taken from North Korean Central Television on July 4, 2017, shows a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Hwasong-14 Missile Test: Can North Korea's Rockets Reach the US?

By Tom Metcalfe published

Are North Korean rockets capable of reaching American shores?

Tech
The Hinode spacecraft captured this stunning image of the maximum solar eclipse on May 20, 2012, which darkened the sky in parts of the Western United States and Southeast Asia, according to NASA.

Why Total Solar Eclipses Are Total Coincidences

By Tom Metcalfe published

Eclipses
Northern Lights

How One Scientist Decoded the Mysterious Sounds of the Northern Lights

By Tom Metcalfe published

The Universe
Bronze Cannon with Fleur-de-Lis

16th-Century Shipwrecks Found Amid Rocket Debris Off Florida Coast

By Tom Metcalfe published

Launches & Spacecraft
Prehistoric ceremonial site

Echoes of Ancient Cosmology Found at Prehistoric Native American Site

By Tom Metcalfe published

A curious prehistoric site on a hilltop in northern Ohio may reflect the spiritual cosmology of the ancient hunter-gatherer people who built the site around 2,300 years ago, according to a new study.

Earth
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