Sarah Scoles
How (and Why) the FBI Mysteriously Shut Down a Federal Solar Observatory
The full details of what happened at the Sunspot Solar Observatory in 2018 finally came out at trial.
This Company Will Point Satellites at Earth and Use them to Look for UFOs
Hypergiant Industries has clients like NASA, Shell, and Booz Allen. It says it can use machine learning from satellite imagery to detect anomalies.
Inside Lockheed Martin’s New Facility for Simulating Space Wars
'Pulsar Guardian' will let governmental and commercial customers run wargames simulating conflict in space.
Inside the Government’s ‘Quantum Computing Summer School’
An entirely new type of computer will change the way science is done, and could break traditional types of encryption.
When Should a Prescription Drug's Side Effects Count as a Disability?
“Part of me can kind of understand where they're coming from, but most of me doesn't.”
Mallory Ortberg's Internet
A toast to feminist site The Toast, and to making the internet a better place.
I Went to the 'Contact' Radio Telescope with the Astrophysicist Behind Twitter's All-Time Sickest Burn
Most scientists famous for talking about science are men who became celebritized well into their careers. Not Katie Mack.
An Afternoon With the World’s Most Powerful Rocket Booster
This week, in middle-of-nowhere Utah, a NASA contractor tested the rocket booster that will get future astronauts to deep space. I went.
The People Who Believe Electricity Rules the Universe
"Electric universe" theory is at odds with everything modern science has determined about the universe. Yet something about it sparks fervor in the hearts of believers.
The Spaceship Engineers Who Build Their Own Planes
When they’re not building futuristic aircraft at the Mojave Air and Space Port, Elliot and Justin test DIY airplanes for the right stuff.
The Would-Be Astronaut
Brian Shiro has been rejected from NASA's astronaut program—twice. So he started his own astronaut-for-hire service.