The latest news briefs from NASA science.
Scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have turned to one of NASA’s high-altitude research planes to characterize a population of tiny particles in Earth’s lower stratosphere. Despite their small size, the study shows, the particles appear to play an outsized role in atmospheric chemistry. The findings, published April 23 in […]
Before a solar storm races across space and impacts technology on Earth, it starts with an explosive process on the Sun known as magnetic reconnection. Now, observations from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe have uncovered new details about how these types of magnetic events fling particles to dangerous speeds. On a 2022 solar flyby, Parker Solar […]
The universe is expanding, but the exact speed at which it’s doing so – a figure known as the “Hubble constant” – remains a mystery. Now, an international collaboration of astronomers has developed a framework that incorporates a range of methods into one analysis, to produce a more precise measurement.
Dengue remains a serious public health threat in Puerto Rico and a growing concern in parts of the mainland United States, including Florida and Texas. NASA is helping researchers tackle that challenge by tracking environmental conditions linked to transmission. In 2024 and 2025, Puerto Rico reported more than 9,500 cases during a major outbreak, with […]
Computer models used to forecast air quality may have gaps when it comes to farmland, according to a newly published NASA-supported study that compared simulations to real-world data collected on both coasts. Irrigation, in particular, may play a greater role than previously thought when it comes to how heat, moisture, and pollutants churn between Earth’s […]
A NASA instrument designed to measure moonlight to help satellite sensors make more accurate measurements.
Plants exposed to artificial lighting burst into bloom earlier and flower longer than plants exposed exclusively to natural sunlight. A recent study that relies on NASA satellite data found that this effect raises pollen counts throughout much of the year, extending and intensifying allergy seasons in brightly lit communities. In a study in PNAS Nexus, […]
NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, known for measuring tiny organisms in the ocean and particles in the atmosphere, has a new capability: it can track nitrogen dioxide pollution. Nitrogen dioxide is a harmful air pollutant produced from burning fossil fuels and wood. The trace gas can also react with sunlight and oxygen […]
Massive stars are often known to go out with a bang: The core collapses, and a wave of subatomic particles called neutrinos erupt outward, causing the star to explode as a supernova that can outshine an entire galaxy. But 2.5 million light-years away from Earth, in the Andromeda galaxy, a dying star named M31-2014-DS1 did […]
