An artist’s impression of a star system, UPM J1040−3551, against the backdrop of the Milky Way as observed by Gaia, provided by Jiaxin Zhong/Zenghua Zhang. Scientists find a quadruple star system in our cosmic backyard; two of the objects in the arrangement are cold brown dwarfs, which will serve as a benchmark for others throughout the Milky Way. (Jiaxin Zhong/Zenghua Zhang via The New York Times) By KATRINA MILLER Zenghua Zhang, an astronomer at Nanjing University in China,

A rear-facing image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS from the Perseverance Mars rover as it drives up toward the rim of the planet’s Jezero Crater, Nov. 11, 2024. After several disappointing failures, SpaceX’s Starship — the mammoth rocket that Elon Musk hopes to use to take people to Mars — made it all the way up to space and all the way back down to Earth during a 10th test flight Tuesday night. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS via The New York Times) By Kenneth Chang After several

The World Health Organization is warning that current transmission patterns resemble a global outbreak that infected 500,000 people 20...

Research suggests that exercising in warm, humid conditions can provide what some call “poor man’s altitude training” — improving...

A seven-month-old receives a COVID-19 vaccine formulated for under-5-year-olds in Houston, June 22, 2022. Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,...

In an undated rendering from NASA, a concept image of a lunar surface nuclear reactor. Sean Duffy, the acting administrator of NASA, has issued a directive to fast-track efforts to put a nuclear reactor on the moon. (NASA via The New York Times) By Kenneth Chang Nuclear reactors have been generating power on Earth for more than 70 years. How hard would it be to place one on the moon to provide copious, continuous energy through the cold, dark, 2-week-long lunar nights? And co

Sandy Hupp, 71, trains at Greysteel Strength and Conditioning gym, in Farmington Hills, Mich., on June 20, 2025. Greysteel, a gym outside...

A view of the city during the cyclists’ ride, in Bogota, Colombia, June 26, 2025. At an altitude of 8,500 feet, Bogota is cool...

In an undated image provided by Tobias Wilhelm/State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, an artist’s reconstruction of Mirasaura, which means “wonderful reptile” in Latin. German paleontologists have discovered a 247-million-year-old fossil of a reptile with a bizarre row of plumes sprouting from its back. (Tobias Wilhelm/State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart via The New York Times) By Carl Zimmer German paleontologists have discovered a 247-million-year-old fossil of a

Demonstrators stack mock coffins outside the State Department in Washington on April 17, 2025, to protest the Trump administration’s...