One of the most challenging questions to answer when confronting the Fermi paradox is why exponentially scaling technologies haven't taken over the universe by now. Commonly known as von Neumann probes, the idea of a self-replicating swarm of extraterrestrial robots has been a staple of science fiction for decades. But so far, there has never been any evidence of their existence outside the realm of fiction. That might be because we haven't spent a lot of time looking for them—and that could […]

Whistler mode chorus waves are electromagnetic emissions common in planetary magnetospheres. Among other impacts, their scattering of magnetospheric electrons is one driver for the formation of auroras. An important attribute of these waves is frequency chirping, in which the frequency of the emission rises or falls nearly monotonically with time.

The first black holes to appear in the universe may have formed from the direct collapse of gas. When they collapsed, they released a flood of radiation, including radio waves. A new study has found that the next generation of massive radio telescopes may be able to detect these bursts, giving precious insights into a critical epoch in the history of the universe.

A new high-precision measurement of the neutron skin in doubly magic calcium-48 may help shed light on proton-neutron interactions inside nuclei. This is the first highly robust electroweak measurement of the neutron skin in a medium-weight nucleus. The results from this new measurement, made by the 48Ca Radius EXperiment (CREX) collaboration at DOE's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, will be presented at the 2021 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics.

Astronomers have discovered unusual signals coming from the direction of the Milky Way's center. The radio waves fit no currently understood pattern of variable radio source and could suggest a new class of stellar object.