Astronomy
Two Minutes on a Comet, Six Years to Explain
A bright scar between cometary boulders helped reconstruct Philae’s lost encounter and prompted a disputed estimate of the ice beneath the surface.
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Astronomy
What Changed When Scientists Found Their Lost Lander?
Finding Philae gave scientists a firmer starting point for interpreting radio signals that had travelled through the comet nearly two years earlier.
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Astronomy
Philae Was Awake. Why Was It So Hard to Reach?
Philae had enough power to wake up, but brief radio links left its team piecing together old records and uncertain hardware clues.
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Psychology
Why Driving Faster Saves Less Time Than You Think
A speedometer shows how fast you are going. Experiments with pace displays reveal why judging the minutes you save is a different problem.
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History
A Home She Could Keep but Could Not Sell
Old Assyrian agreements reveal women who could remain in a house without owning it, and the promises, payments and family obligations recorded in clay.
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Astronomy
How Astronomers Read a Supernova Three Centuries Late
A faint echo in interstellar dust let astronomers take a spectrum of Cassiopeia A’s explosion centuries after its direct light reached Earth.
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History
Why Abbeville’s Merchants Wanted Black Residents to Stay
After Anthony Crawford’s lynching, Black residents’ departures and refusal to shop put pressure on Abbeville’s white merchants. Promises of protection followed, but safety remained uncertain.
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Astronomy
The Sun Was Not Running Out of Neutrinos
Two reactions in Sudbury’s heavy water separated a shortfall in electron-neutrinos from a shortfall in the Sun’s output.
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History
How Railway Time Became a Public Standard
Railway employees changed their watches in 1883. The international meridian agreement and federal time law came later, each solving a different problem.
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