Space Junk Is Polluting Earth’s Stratosphere with Vaporized Metal
Defunct satellites and other pieces of orbital debris are pumping metals into Earth’s fragile upper atmosphere, with effects unknown
Stories by Lee Billings
Lee Billings is a science journalist specializing in astronomy, physics, planetary science, and spaceflight, and is a senior editor at Scientific American. He is the author of a critically acclaimed book, Five Billion Years of Solitude: the Search for Life Among the Stars, which in 2014 won a Science Communication Award from the American Institute of Physics. In addition to his work for Scientific American, Billings's writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Wired, New Scientist, Popular Science, and many other publications. A dynamic public speaker, Billings has given invited talks for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Google, and has served as M.C. for events held by National Geographic, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Pioneer Works, and various other organizations.
Billings joined Scientific American in 2014, and previously worked as a staff editor at SEED magazine. He holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Minnesota.
Billings joined Scientific American in 2014, and previously worked as a staff editor at SEED magazine. He holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Minnesota.
Astronomers May Have Witnessed Worlds in Collision
A planet-vaporizing impact is the leading explanation for a distant star’s curiously fluctuating light
Here’s What Oppenheimer Gets Right—And Wrong—About Nuclear History
Here’s what a historian who has studied J. Robert Oppenheimer for two decades has to say about the new Christopher Nolan film on the father of the atomic bomb.
The Universe Is Abuzz with Giant Gravitational Waves, and Scientists Just Heard Them (Maybe)
Researchers, using the galaxy as a detector, believe they have detected gravitational waves from monster black holes for the first time.
Have Astronomers Seen the Universe’s First Stars?
The James Webb Space Telescope is giving us our first glimpse of stars in the early universe.
Listen to the Astonishing ‘Chirp’ of Two Black Holes Merging
Some of the most violent cosmic collisions occur silently in the vacuum of space, but with the right instrumental ears, we can still hear it happen. Here’s how.
We Live in the Rarest Type of Planetary System
New work suggests four distinct star system types—and finds our own in the rarest category
Is Time Travel Even Possible?
Two SciAm editors duke it out to see if wormholes and multiverses could in fact exist.
A Mission to Jupiter’s Strange Moons Is Finally on Its Way
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and Europa Clipper missions will search for signs of habitability on three of Jupiter’s potentially ocean-bearing moons.
Science Has New Ideas about ‘Oumuamua’s Weirdness
Our first known interstellar visitor is now long gone, but new research has some ideas about why it moved the way it did while it was in our cosmic neighborhood.
Space Force Humor, Laser Dazzlers, and the Havoc a War in Space Would Actually Wreak
In the inaugural episode of Cosmos, Quickly, we blast off with Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno of the Space Force, who is charged with protecting our space in space, particularly from Russia and China.
How To Stop a (Potentially Killer) Asteroid
We slammed a $330-million spaceship the size of a dairy cow into an asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Here’s what we’re learning about how our first step in planetary defense could save us in the future.
6 Times Quantum Physics Blew Our Minds in 2022
Quantum telepathy, laser-based time crystals, a glow from empty space and an “unreal” universe—these are the most awesome (and awfully hard to understand) results from the subatomic realm we encountered in 2022
Explorers of Quantum Entanglement Win 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics
Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work using entangled photons to test the quantum foundations of reality
SETI Pioneer Frank Drake Leaves a Legacy of Searching for Voices in the Void
Remembering Frank Drake, who led science in listening for an extraterrestrial “whisper we can’t quite hear”
Don’t Fear China’s Falling Rocket—Fear the Future It Foretells
Long considered trivial, the effects of rocket launches and reentering space debris on global warming and ozone loss could soon become too large to ignore
NASA Triumphantly Unveils Full Set of Webb’s First Images
Breathtaking pictures that include the deepest-ever infrared view of ancient galaxies offer a preview of the spectacular science in store for the most powerful space observatory in history
See the Oldest View of Our Known Universe, Just Revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope
Decades of work, $10 billion in spending and nearly 14 billion years of cosmic history have brought us to this moment: the first science from the largest and most powerful observatory ever built.
Meet the Woman Who Makes the James Webb Space Telescope Work
Jane Rigby, Webb’s operations project scientist, discusses how NASA plans to wring as much science as possible from the $10-billion observatory
The Best Fun Science Stories of 2021: Rhythmic Lemurs, a Marscopter and Sex-Obsessed Insect Zombies
Check out the weird and wonderful stories that delighted us this year
Hunt for Alien Life Tops Next-Gen Wish List for U.S. Astronomy
A major report outlining the highest priorities and recommendations for U.S. astronomy has finally been released, revealing the shape of things to come
Ancient Martian ‘Lake’ May Have Just Been Ephemeral Puddles
One study suggests the Curiosity rover’s landing site is not as it seems
Physics Nobel Honors Breakthroughs in Understanding Climate and Other Complex Systems
Half the award goes to Giorgio Parisi for his studies of disorder and chaos. The remainder is shared between Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann for modeling global warming and climate variability
This Report Could Make or Break the Next 30 Years of U.S. Astronomy
A battle for the future of American stargazing is about to begin—and the stakes are sky high