Astrophysicists outline the links between atmospheric oxygen and the potential rise of advanced technology on distant planets. In the quest to understand the potential for life beyond Earth, ...

The long-standing idea of planets forming in perfectly flat, orderly discs has been challenged by new research. Instead of calm, pancake-shaped structures of dust and gas, astronomers have now ...

Cosmic rays are charged subnuclear particles that move close to the speed of light, constantly raining down on the Earth. These particles are relativistic, as defined by Albert Einstein’s special ...

Coined by astrophysics Adam Frank and Amedeo Balbi, the “oxygen bottleneck” describes the critical threshold that separates worlds capable of fostering technological civilizations from those that fall ...