Most recent stories

• Muon collider gains momentum - Premium content

  Fermilab pins hopes on untested technology in race to stay at the cutting edge of physics.

  18 November 2009

• Lunar impact tosses up water and stranger stuff - Premium content

  NASA claims definitive detection of Moon water in the Solar System's 'attic'.

  13 November 2009

• Call to boost isotope supplies - Premium content

  Two dedicated plants are needed to meet demand, committee says.

  11 November 2009

• Planet hunt delayed - Premium content

  Noise confounds NASA mission to find an Earth twin.

  30 October 2009

• Dark energy rips cosmos and agencies - Premium content

  An international space mission to study an astronomical mystery is foundering.

  27 October 2009

• US physicists propose astrophysics goals - Premium content

  Dark energy and dark matter prove popular choices for funding.

  27 October 2009

• Moon scientist arrested on spy charges - Premium content

  Radar expert worked on US and Indian missions.

  20 October 2009

• Moon smash gives off flash - Premium content

  Early observations show no debris plume in the search for ice.

  09 October 2009

• X-ray free-electron lasers fire up - Premium content

  California's project has the lead as its facility goes live, but Europe aims for its own rapid-fire device.

  07 October 2009

• Target crater changed for Moon crash - Premium content

  Evidence of ice convinces NASA team to make last-minute switch.

  28 September 2009

• Physics: The edge of physics - Premium content

  Canada's Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics was intended to become a world leader in the field. Eric Hand finds out if it has lived up to its ambitions.

  23 September 2009

• Cosmology: The test of inflation - Premium content

  As the launch of the Planck spacecraft approaches, Eric Hand investigates what the mission could mean for the predominant theory of the moments after the Big Bang.

  15 April 2009

• Mars exploration: Phoenix: a race against time

  Eric Hand reports on the short life and hard times of the little Mars lander that sort-of-could.

  10 December 2008

• Particle physics: Sam Ting's last fling - Premium content

  The International Space Station's one chance of scientific greatness rests on a high-profile refugee from the world of the particle accelerator - but is it too long a shot to be worth taking? Eric Hand reports.

  15 October 2008

• Space science: From the desert to the edge of space - Premium content

  Not all NASA launches need rockets and countdowns. Eric Hand sees the alternative in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

  16 July 2008

• Planetary science: The hole at the bottom of the Moon - Premium content

  A giant crater on the lunar farside holds the key to a catastrophic bombardment that reshaped the Moon, Earth and other planets. Eric Hand reports.

  25 June 2008

• Astronomy: Eyes as big as the sky - Premium content

  Three teams are racing each other to build the next generation of telescopes that would dramatically dwarf the largest on Earth today. Eric Hand checks out the competition.

  12 March 2008

• Space and astronomy: The girl next door - Premium content

  Hanging bright in the morning sky, Venus's allure is obvious; but its blasted surface looks too hot to handle. Eric Hand investigates the difficulties of returning to the closest planet - and new plans to reap the rewards of doing so.

  28 November 2007