Space & Cosmos
Where Does Gold Come From? The Cosmic Catastrophe Behind Every Wedding Ring
Where does gold come from? The gold in your jewelry was forged in a neutron star collision billions of years ago. Here's the wild physics behind it.
Space & Cosmos
Black holes, stars, planets, and the scale of everything.
Space & Cosmos
How Do Black Holes Die? The Slow Fade of the Darkest Things
How do black holes die? Through Hawking radiation, they slowly evaporate over almost unimaginable spans of time. Here's how the universe's darkest objects end.
Space & Cosmos
How Big Is the Universe? (And Does It Have an Edge?)
How big is the universe? The observable universe spans 93 billion light-years, but the whole thing may be infinite. Here's what 'size' even means in space.
Space & Cosmos
What Happens When the Sun Dies?
What happens when the sun dies? In about 5 billion years it will swell into a red giant, swallow the inner planets, and fade into a white dwarf. Here's the timeline.
Space & Cosmos
Why Do Stars Twinkle but Planets Don't?
Why do stars twinkle while planets shine steadily? The answer is our turbulent atmosphere bending starlight, and a surprising trick of distance and size.