"It's a very, very beautiful calculation, but it's the best example I know of the relationship between these rather abstract quantities perhaps and something that you can look at in a telescope." 

What happens when you try to look too closely at the fabric of the universe? When we gaze at a Planck length, a scale so small that even light becomes useless for observation, physics pushes back.

The Planck length is not just a tiny number, it’s a boundary where gravity, quantum mechanics, and relativity collide.

Physicist Brian Cox explains why the measurement is a portal to the deep structure of reality, and why going beyond it may break the boundaries of our understanding.

0:00 Introduction
0:45 The importance of measurements
2:40 What are the fundamental quantities?
7:20 How important is the Planck length?
9:20 Why you can’t approach the Planck length
10:30 A theory with more dimensions
13:00 What keeps a star from collapsing?
14:42 The uncertainty principle
17:36 The Planck mass

Denied of sleep, we find it but impossible to keep our eyes open and our thoughts focused. A new study based on fruit flies may have pin-pointed the origins of this biological lullaby, and with it a deeper understanding of our need for rest on a cellular level.

Researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK have identified our cell's mitochondria as responsible for signaling when the body has to get some shut-eye as soon as possible.

These tiny power generators cause a kind of metabolic overload in sleep-regulating neurons, the researchers suggest, which in simple terms indicates when our brain is running on empty. Through sleep, this overload can be reset, ensuring the brain remains in a healthy state.

Rolling, rolling, rolling. See what the Curiosity rover is up to lately on Mars.
https://t.co/3pX0I7gh48

Hurricane Erin, the first Atlantic hurricane in the 2025 season, rapidly intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in just over 24 hours.

These Suomi NPP satellite images show Erin’s path from August 14-19. https://t.co/67FQj9qxL5

A unique orbit means a unique view of our galaxy and beyond. 🔭💫

Space station provides a perfect perch for astrophysics instruments, helping us learn more about black holes, dark matter, and the very composition of our universe.

The "ink-redible" Squid Galaxy is located about 50 million light-years from Earth. This view of the Squid, roughly 29,000 light-years across, combines different types of light captured by NASA's Chandra, NASAHubble, NASAWebb, and TheNRAO's Very Large Array.🦑

Could magnets help astronauts breathe on Mars? 🧲

Living and working on Mars will require innovative technologies to produce oxygen for future explorers. That's why researchers, working with NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program, are developing a powerful new idea using swirling fluids and strong magnets to produce breathable air. Learn more: https://t.co/c9goHA0Lli

When NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches in October 2026, it won't just be peering into the distant universe to study dark energy and exoplanets. This powerful observatory will also serve as Earth's newest guardian, helping scientists track and understand potentially dangerous asteroids and comets that could threaten our planet.

The Roman Space Telescope will position itself at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, a gravitationally stable location about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth in the opposite direction of the Sun. From this vantage point, the telescope will use its sensitive near infrared vision to study near Earth objects (NEOs), the asteroids and comets whose orbits bring them close to our planet.

What makes Roman particularly valuable for planetary defence is its ability to measure the physical properties of these space rocks with unprecedented precision. While other telescopes can spot asteroids, Roman will be able to determine their size, shape, composition, and exact orbital paths. This detailed information is crucial for understanding which objects pose real threats and which are harmless.

A worldwide study involving more than 100,000 participants has found that receiving a smartphone before the age of 13 is linked with weaker mental health and lower overall wellbeing in early adulthood.

The research, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, reported that individuals aged 18 to 24 who first owned a smartphone at 12 or younger were more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, heightened aggression, feelings of detachment from reality, difficulties with emotional control, and diminished self-worth.

The findings further indicate that these negative outcomes are closely tied to early exposure to social media and increased vulnerability to cyberbullying, poor sleep quality, and strained family relationships later in life.

Earth’s glow, aurora flow, and a sunrise that’s literally out of this world. 🌎

This timelapse, captured from the International Space Station, showcases an orbital sunrise illuminating parts of the station as it travels at approximately 17,500 miles per hour.

What kind of clouds are these? Although their cause is presently unknown, such unusual atmospheric structures, as menacing as they might seem, do not appear to be harbingers of meteorological doom. Formally recognized as a distinct cloud type only last year, asperitas clouds can be stunning in appearance, unusual in occurrence, and are relatively unstudied. Whereas most low cloud decks are flat bottomed, asperitas clouds appear to have significant vertical structure underneath. Speculation therefore holds that asperitas clouds might be related to lenticular clouds that form near mountains, or mammatus clouds associated with thunderstorms, or perhaps a foehn -- a type of dry downward wind that flows off mountains. Clouds from such a wind called the Canterbury arch stream toward the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. The featured image, taken above Hanmer Springs in Canterbury, New Zealand in 2005, shows great detail partly because sunlight illuminates the undulating clouds from the side.

Stars often reach the end of their lives and fade from view, but astronomers were left baffled when a star that had remained steady for more than ten years suddenly seemed to vanish for nearly eight months.

From late 2024 through early 2025, a star in our galaxy known as ASASSN-24fw lost about 97% of its brightness before returning to normal. The unusual dimming quickly became the subject of debate as researchers searched for an explanation behind such an extraordinary event.

An international research team, led by scientists at The Ohio State University, now believes they may have solved the puzzle. In a study recently published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics, the group reports that because the star’s color did not change during the dimming, the cause was unlikely to be related to stellar evolution. Instead, they conclude that a massive cloud of dust and gas surrounding the star blocked it from Earth’s view.

A red supergiant star has blown an enormous bubble of gas and dust, baffling astronomers.

The structure, as massive as the Sun and larger than our solar system, formed in a sudden eruption thousands of years ago. Why the star didn’t explode as a supernova remains a mystery.

Astronomers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have identified a gigantic, expanding bubble of gas and dust surrounding a red supergiant star. It is the largest structure of this kind ever observed in the Milky Way. Containing as much mass as the Sun, the bubble was expelled in a violent stellar eruption about 4000 years ago. Scientists are still puzzled as to how the star managed to survive such a dramatic event.

The findings, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, come from a team led by Mark Siebert of Chalmers. Using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile, the researchers studied the red supergiant known as DFK 52, a star similar in many ways to the famous Betelgeuse.

According to the latest climate report from ametsoc, Earth is not doing very well climate-wise:
2024 saw record highs in greenhouse gas concentrations, global land and ocean temperatures, sea levels, and ocean heat content.
ESA’s Climate Change Initiative plays a significant role in this effort: https://t.co/mWy47UILP1

📸 2024 monthly anomalies in soil moisture

Longer thumbs mean bigger brains, scientists have found—revealing how human hands and minds evolved together.

Researchers studied 94 different primate species, including fossils and living animals, to understand how our ancestors developed their abilities. They found that species with relatively longer thumbs, which help with gripping small objects precisely, consistently had larger brains.

The research, published in Communications Biology, provides the first direct evidence that manual dexterity and brain evolution are connected across the entire primate lineage, from lemurs to humans.

Humans and our extinct relatives boast both extraordinarily long thumbs and exceptionally large brains. However, the link remains strong across all primates. When scientists removed human data from their analysis, the connection between thumb length and brain size remained.

A team of drone operators joined climbers and guides at Everest Base Camp this climbing season, armed with heavy-duty drones to help clear rubbish from the world's highest peak.

Tons of trash—from empty cans and gas canisters, to bottles, plastic and discarded climbing gear—have earned once-pristine Everest the grim nickname of the "highest dumpster in the world."

Two DJI FC 30 heavy-lifter drones were flown to Camp 1 at 6,065 meters (19,900 feet), where they airlifted 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of trash down during the spring climbing season, which usually lasts from April to early June.

"The only options were helicopters and manpower, with no option in between," said Raj Bikram Maharjan, of Nepal-based Airlift Technology, which developed the project.

"So, as a solution for this problem, we came up with a concept of using our heavy-lift drone to carry garbage."

After a successful pilot on Everest last year, the company tested the system on nearby Mount Ama Dablam, where it removed 641 kilos of waste.

"This is a revolutionary drive in the mountains to make it cleaner and safer," said Tashi Lhamu Sherpa, vice chairman of the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, which oversees the Everest area.

The idea of building settlements on Mars is a popular goal of billionaires, space agencies and interplanetary enthusiasts.

But construction demands materials, and we can't ship it all from Earth: it cost US$243 million just to send NASA's one ton Perseverance Rover to the Red Planet.

Unless we're building a settlement for ants, we'll need much, much more stuff. So how do we get it there?

CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellow and Swinburne alum Dr. Deddy Nababan has been pondering this question for years. His answer lies in the Martian dirt, known as regolith.

"Sending metals to Mars from Earth might be feasible, but it's not economical. Can you imagine bringing tons of metals to Mars? It's just not practical," he says.
"Instead, we can use what's available on Mars—it's called in-situ resource utilization (ISRU)."

More specifically, Dr. Nababan is looking at astrometallurgy—making metals in space.

Results from the first part of our fourth LIGO ego virgo KAGRA PR observing run are out today!

We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars

📰 https://t.co/CNNFSO0AxS

While most of us take the ground beneath our feet for granted, written within its complex layers, like the pages of a book, is Earth's history. Our history.

Research shows there are little-known chapters in that history, deep within Earth's past. In fact, Earth's inner core appears to have another even more inner core within it.

"Traditionally we've been taught the Earth has four main layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core," Australian National University geophysicist Joanne Stephenson explained in 2021.

Our knowledge of what lies beneath Earth's crust has been inferred mostly from what volcanoes have divulged and what seismic waves have whispered.

From these indirect observations, scientists have calculated that the scorchingly hot inner core, with temperatures surpassing 5,000 degrees Celsius (9,000 Fahrenheit), makes up only 1 percent of Earth's total volume.

But a few years ago, Stephenson and colleagues found evidence Earth's inner core may actually have two distinct layers.
"It's very exciting – and might mean we have to re-write the textbooks!" Stephenson explained at the time.

Two separate research teams have now released near-complete reference genomes of the central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), a lizard species that ranges widely across central eastern Australia and is also a favorite pet in Europe, Asia, and North America.

What makes this reptile stand out is its unusual system of sex determination: whether it develops as male or female depends not only on its chromosomes but also on the temperature at which its eggs are incubated. Because of this dual mechanism, the species has long served as a model for studying how sex is determined in animals.

Two key documents from the Trump administration aimed at revoking the long-standing finding that climate change is dangerous were filled with errors, bias and distortions, according to dozens of scientists surveyed by The Associated Press.

One of the reports argues that sea ice decline in the Arctic has been small, but uses data from the Antarctic to make the point. It uses a French-focused study on climate-related crop losses for a claim about the U.S.—a generalization the author said didn't work because of significant differences in climate and agriculture. And after saying decades-old wildfire statistics aren't reliable, the report reproduces them in a graphic anyway, making it appear fires were worse a century ago than they have been more recently.

Scientists noted those basic errors, but the most common critique from the vast majority of the 64 who answered AP's questions was that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy ignored, twisted or cherry-picked information to manufacture doubt about the severity and threat of climate change.
Jennifer Marlon, director of data science at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, was among those.

"The work and conclusions appear biased. The data and graphs use classic mis- and disinformation techniques," she said. "It is almost a user's guide on how to lie with figures."

The Trump administration in July proposed revoking a 2009 government finding that climate change is a threat to public health and welfare, a concept known as the "endangerment" finding that is backed by mainstream science. Overturning it could pave the way for cutting a range of rules that limit pollution from cars, power plants and other sources.