WASHINGTON—Scientists for the past 15 years have been looking for evidence of a type of star only hypothesized but never observed—one powered not by the fusion of atoms like the sun and other ordinary stars but by mysterious stuff called dark matter. Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope’s ability to peer back to the…

Powerful solar flare activity is forecast for Monday which may interfere with short-wave communications, Russian scientists said after three flares were observed on the sun on Sunday. The Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics in Moscow said class X flares were possible, including proton flares, and short-wave radio conditions were expected to deteriorate. X-class flares are…

Australia’s therapeutic goods administration (TGA) has announced that reports on myocarditis and pericarditis cases following mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna are not necessary anymore and will no longer be provided. Australia’s national drug authority says this is because the rates have stabilised. However, the TGA will “continue to monitor and review these adverse…

Scientists have discovered a heat-emitting mass of granite buried beneath the surface on the far side of the moon, which likely formed from a dormant volcano that last erupted over 3.5 billion years ago. In a study published on July 5 in the journal Nature, scientists reported the discovery of a 50-kilometers-wide batholith—a type of…

How good does it feel to walk barefoot on the beach, sit in the grass on a sunny day, or stroll through a forest and enjoy the grandeur of the trees? Although most of us can feel the therapeutic benefits of being in nature, we may not think of them as prescriptions for some of…

NEW YORK—The northern lights could put on a show this week—though the audience will be much smaller than some early forecasts had suggested. The sky spectacle will be fairly typical: Stretches of Canada have a chance to spot the shimmering curtain of the aurora borealis, while a few in the U.S. could see a faint…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet: the dramatic close-up of dozens of stars at the moment of birth. NASA unveiled the latest snapshot Wednesday, revealing 50 baby stars in a cloud complex 390 light-years away. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles…

WASHINGTON—It is a planet astronomers say probably should not even exist. Researchers said on Monday they have spotted a truly extreme planet beyond our solar system, a blazingly hot world a bit bigger than Neptune that orbits a sun-like star every 19 hours and appears to be wrapped in metallic clouds made of titanium and…

A solar storm forecast for Thursday is expected to give skygazers in 17 American states a chance to glimpse the Northern Lights, the colorful sky show that happens when solar wind hits the atmosphere. Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are most often seen in Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia, but an 11-year solar cycle…

Red Dye No. 3, or erythrosine, is making headlines with California looking to ban it along with four other toxic food additives. Derived from petroleum, the synthetic red dye is responsible for giving many ultra-processed foods and drinks their bright colors and boasts a long list of uses—from candies and sodas to cereals and protein shakes. Several…