Lab Notes

Science journalism has been declining for years, under the same media pressures that have made local news an endangered species. Boulder County is one...

In the 1960s, the Apollo missions to the moon inspired a generation of scientists and engineers to pursue careers in space exploration. On the heels of those successes, the Voyager missions to the outer solar system inspired my generation. I vividly remember the ...

In 1966, astronomer Olin Wilson started what would become a decades-long pursuit, searching for an answer to a simple question. Wilson knew that observations...

As the Atlas V rocket’s inferno lit up the night sky early in the evening of Nov. 19, 2016, it was as if the...

In September 1859, the most powerful explosion in recorded history burst from the surface of the sun, releasing more energy than a billion of...

During the first two weeks of December, delegates from around the world are meeting in Madrid for the latest round of international negotiations to...

To those of us living in Boulder and surrounding communities, it may come as a surprise that many people remain unconvinced that the use of fossil fuels is the main contributor to current climate change. But before diving into the discussion of the consequences of ...

Four miles from the launch pad, standing on the roof of the 44-story vehicle assembly building where NASA constructed the space shuttles, I hold...

The holiday season is a peak time for companies that sell the novelty gift of “naming a star,” with a framed certificate and a...

OK, so who is ready to go live on Mars? I saw a few hands go up there in the Boulder Weekly readership. Now...

In his recent book Accessory to War, astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson and coauthor Avis Lang document the historical relationship between science and the military,...

On Oct. 30, NASA finally retired the Kepler space telescope, the prolific planet-hunter that has been scanning the skies for the past nine years....