Behind the Scenes at a U.S. Factory Building New Nuclear Bombs
The U.S. is ramping up construction of new “plutonium pits” for nuclear weapons
Stories by Sarah Scoles
Sarah Scoles is a Colorado-based science journalist, a contributing editor at Popular Science and a senior contributor at Undark. She is author of Making Contact (2017) and They Are Already Here (2020), both published by Pegasus Books. Her book Countdown: The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons (Public Affairs) will be out in 2024.
Why We’ll Never Live in Space
Medical, financial and ethical hurdles stand in the way of the dream to settle in space
Will the Universe Ever Stop Expanding?
Scientists debate what the future of the cosmos looks like and whether space will ever stop getting bigger and bigger
Will Scientists Ever Find a Theory of Everything?
Physicists are on an ever urgent quest to find a fuller understanding of what makes the cosmos tick, which they call a theory of everything
I Survived a Weekend at Biosphere 2 Pretending to Be in Space
At a stay in Biosphere 2, I went in skeptical but learned to understand why analog astronauts love what they do
Is Time Travel Possible?
The laws of physics allow time travel. So why haven’t people become chronological hoppers?
How Do We Find Aliens? Maybe Unlearn What We Know About ‘Life’ First
Science might be redefining what “life out there” really means.
New Exascale Supercomputer Can Do a Quintillion Calculations a Second
New “exascale” supercomputers will bring breakthroughs in science. But the technology also exists to study nuclear weapons
The Search for Extraterrestrial Life as We Don’t Know It
Scientists are abandoning conventional thinking to search for extraterrestrial creatures that bear little resemblance to Earthlings
NASA’s UFO Study Isn’t Really Looking for Space Aliens
A new investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena could have bigger impacts on atmospheric science than on astrobiology
Radioactive Material Is Basically Everywhere and That’s a Problem
The RadSecure program aims to remove dangerous substances from medical facilities and other industries
Nuclear-Testing ‘Downwinders’ Speak about History and Fear
An archival project aims to document the experiences of people who suffered from U.S. nuclear weapons testing
Are We Doing Enough to Protect Earth from Asteroids?
Scientists lost one of their best tools with the demise of the Arecibo telescope
Space Alien Research Could Get Its First Grad Program
Scientists aim to make the search for extraterrestrial intelligence academically respectable
The Good Kind of Crazy: The Quest for Exotic Propulsion
Traditional rockets won't get us to the stars. Some scientists are pushing against the edges of physics to find out what will
Physicists Go Deep in Search of Dark Matter
A laboratory buried nearly a mile beneath South Dakota is at the forefront of a global push for subterranean science
World's Largest Radio Telescope Faces a Troubling Future
The National Science Foundation is considering pulling its support from the famous Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico
NASA Considers Its Next Flagship Space Telescope
The space agency has embarked on a long and arduous process to select a new grand space observatory that will meet the needs of astronomers in the mid-2030s