Children as young as 4 years old are capable of finding efficient solutions to complex problems, such as independently inventing sorting algorithms developed by computer scientists. The scientists ...

Measuring binary star systems' basic properties has proved exceedingly difficult. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Breaking space ...

Andrej Prša receives funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Stars are the fundamental building blocks of our universe. Most stars host planets, like our Sun hosts our solar ...

The Babylonians used separate combinations of two symbols to represent every single number from 1 to 59. That sounds pretty confusing, doesn’t it? Our decimal system seems simple by comparison, with ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Computer scientists often deal with abstract problems that are hard to comprehend, but an exciting new algorithm matters to anyone who ...

A 3D graphic showing an artist's interpretation of human X and Y chromosomes. On the left are blue bundles of genetic material making an X shape and on the right blue bundles of genetic material ...

Veiled in gas and clouds, the Milky Way’s center does not easily give up secrets. The initial detection of its supermassive black hole (SMBH) decades ago posed as many riddles as it solved, including ...

Every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, much like every egg has a yolk. But sometimes, hens lay eggs with two yolks. In a similar way, astrophysicists like us who study supermassive ...

Three, as Schoolhouse Rock! told children of the 1970s, is a magic number. Three little pigs; three beds, bowls and bears for Goldilocks; three Star Wars trilogies. You need at least three legs for a ...

X will now let users sort replies. Blue checks will no longer be prioritized in certain reply sorting options. Credit: Serene Lee/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Thanks to a new feature, ...

Royalty-free licenses let you pay once to use copyrighted images and video clips in personal and commercial projects on an ongoing basis without requiring additional payments each time you use that ...