universe | Natural History Magazine

Centuries of astronomy, plus video-game technology, offer a stunning new perspective on our place in space.

An Internet guide to exploring the mysteries of sunspots

Could strange new physics be affecting a pair of distant space probes?

In John Updike's memorable description, "The earth is just a silly ball/To them, through which they simply pass."

Scientists face a choice: invoke a deity or continue the quest for knowledge

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how embracing cosmic realities can enlighten our view of human life.

Most of the matter in the universe is neither bound up in stars or planets nor dispersed in clouds of "ordinary" particles. But what is it made of?

An Internet guide to Sputnik and other early satellites

An Internet guide to the universe

A device that renders objects truly invisible may be commonplace within the next few decades.

By clearing out vegetation, wildfires increase the vulnerability of soils to erosion and flooding.

Global fires may have doomed dinosaurs and much other life after giant meteorite struck Earth 66 million years ago

There's more to a mountain than the summit.

Two years after its big quake, Christchurch is still trembling.