Stories by Elizabeth Gibney

Queen guitarist Brian May has spent a decade studying the science of bovine tuberculosis, which can be carried by badgers, and has identified a new method of spread

Molecular Bose-Einstein condensates could help to provide the answers to fundamental questions or form the basis of new quantum computers

The radioactive unit will help to deliver Europe’s first Mars rover to the planet’s surface

A feasibility study on CERN’s Future Circular Collider identifies where and how the machine could be built—but its construction is far from assured

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna could discover gigantic ripples in spacetime from merging supermassive black holes and more

Satellite navigation systems for lunar settlements will require local atomic clocks. Scientists are working out what time they will keep

Fusion researchers at the U.S. National Ignition Facility created a reaction that made more energy than they put in

Prolific generation of data drove the need for prefixes that denote 10²⁷ and 10³⁰

How, and whether, to keep atomic time in sync with Earth’s rotation is still up for debate

Middle Eastern governments are ramping up their green ambitions ahead of the COP27 climate summit but show few signs of reining in fossil-fuel exports

When Russia invaded Ukraine, many analysts expected an unprecedented level of cyberattacks—which so far haven’t materialized

In the next five years, the nation hopes to launch a robotic craft to an asteroid, two lunar missions and an orbital observatory

Detective work reconstructs the final movements of the European Space Agency’s Philae probe

Researchers have spent decades searching for the elusive particles. A final generation of detectors should leave them no place to hide

Celebration is tinged with relief as $200-million orbiter embarks on 7-month odyssey to the Red Planet

Close-up reveals a surface dancing with ‘campfires’

The United Arab Emirates’ Hope orbiter is the Arab world’s first interplanetary spacecraft — and has jump-started science in the country. Will the momentum last?

European particle-physics lab will pursue a 100-kilometer machine to uncover the Higgs boson’s secrets — but it doesn’t yet have the funds

Physicists have made a Bose–Einstein condensate on the International Space Station—allowing them to probe the mysteries of quantum physics in detail

A reduction in seismic noise because of changes in human activity is a boon for geoscientists

A planetary alignment provides a window to visit Uranus and Neptune—but time is tight

Europe’s space agency is set to receive 45% more money than in the previous three-year budget

The science is immature, and a multipurpose quantum computer doesn’t yet exist. But that isn’t stopping investors from pouring cash into quantum start-ups

The company says that its quantum computer is the first to perform a calculation that would be practically impossible for a classical machine