Andy Weir’s bestselling story “The Martian[1]” predicts that by 2035 NASA will have landed humans on Mars three times, perfected return-to-Earth flight systems and collaborated with the China National Space Administration. We are now 10 years past the Hollywood adaptation’s 2015 release[2] and 10 years shy of its fictional timeline. At...
Billions of cicadas are emerging, from Cape Cod to north Georgia – here’s how and why we map them
If they’re in your area, you’ll know it from their loud droning, chirping and buzzing sounds. Cicadas from Brood XIV[1] – one of the largest groups of cicadas that emerge from underground on a 13-year or 17-year cycle – are surfacing in May and June 2025 across 12 states. This large-scale biological event reaches from northern...
What does it mean for Biden’s prostate cancer to be ‘aggressive’? A urologic surgeon explains
Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer[1] that has spread to his bones. But what does it mean for this type of cancer to be called aggressive?
As a urologic surgeon[2] who specializes in diagnosing and treating prostate cancer, I often explain to my patients that aggressiveness isn’t...
Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light’s ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy
My telescope, set up for astrophotography in my light-polluted San Diego backyard, was pointed at a galaxy unfathomably far from Earth. My wife, Cristina, walked up just as the first space photo streamed to my tablet. It sparkled on the screen in front of us.
“That’s the Pinwheel galaxy[1],” I said. The name is derived from its shape...