Scientists recently collided Xenon nuclei, in order to gain new insights into the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (the QGP). The QGP is a special state consisting of the fundamental particles, the quarks, and the particles that bind the quarks together, the gluons. The result was obtained using the ALICE experiment at the superconducting Large Hadron Collider.

Researchers have identified a young star with four Jupiter and Saturn-sized planets in orbit around it, the first time that so many massive planets have been detected in such a young system. The system has also set a new record for the most extreme range of orbits yet observed: the outermost planet is more than a thousand times further from the star than the innermost one, which raises interesting questions about how such a system might have formed.

The unexpectedly gentle death of a massive star suggests that it was being robbed by a dense companion lurking out of sight.

Astronomers have nearly doubled the known number of 'fast radio bursts'-- powerful flashes of radio waves from deep space. The team's discoveries include the closest and brightest fast radio bursts ever detected and they have proved that fast radio bursts are coming from the other side of the Universe rather than from our own galactic neighborhood.

A recently published study reveals Ganymede, an icy moon of Jupiter, appears to have undergone complex periods of geologic activity, specifically strike-slip tectonism, as is seen in Earth's San Andreas fault.

In an unprecedented study of a solar eclipse's influence on bee behavior, researchers organized citizen scientists and elementary school classrooms to set up acoustic monitoring stations to listen in on bees' buzzing -- or lack thereof -- as the August 2017 total solar eclipse passed over North America. The results were clear and consistent at locations across the United States: Bees stopped flying during the period of total solar eclipse.

Astronomers have now found the explanation to a recent mystery at the center of the Milky Way galaxy: the high levels of scandium discovered last spring near the galaxy's giant black hole were in fact an optical illusion.

Scientists have placed light-absorbing gold nanoclusters inside a bacterium, creating a biohybrid system that produces a higher yield of chemical products, such as biofuels, than previously demonstrated. The biohybrid captures sunlight and carbon dioxide to make chemicals useful not only on Earth but also in the exotic environment of space.

Researchers have analyzed the composition and structure of faraway exoplanets using statistical tools. Their analysis indicates whether a planet is earth-like, made up of pure rock or a water-world. The larger the planet, the more hydrogen and helium surround it.

An international research group has tried to find a solution to one of the unknowns in the current description of the Big Bang. Different nuclear reactions responsible for the creation and destruction of atomic nuclei in nucleosynthesis during the Big Bang are crucial in determining the primordial abundance of lithium, the third (and last) chemical element formed during the very early phase of the creation of the universe.

A location often earmarked as a potential habitat for extra-terrestrial life could prove to be a tricky place for spacecraft to land, new research has revealed.

Astrophysicists have investigated the long-term path development of Centaurs -- small icy bodies that orbit the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune.

In string theory, a paradigm shift could be imminent. In June, a team of string theorists published a conjecture which sounded revolutionary: String theory is said to be fundamentally incompatible with our current understanding of 'dark energy'. A new study has now found out that this conjecture seems to be incompatible with the existence of the Higgs particle.

Experiments have helped scientists to zero in on a low-temperature chemical mechanism that may help to explain the complex molecular compounds that make up the nitrogen-rich haze layer surrounding Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Astronomers have found for the first time that a white dwarf and a brown dwarf collided in a 'blaze of glory' that was witnessed on Earth in 1670.

The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union has today officially approved the naming of two craters on the Moon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission. The names are Anders's Earthrise and 8 Homeward.

A new study based on data from the final orbits last year of NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the rings of Saturn -- some of the most visually stupendous objects in the universe -- are far more chemically complicated than previously was understood.

A team of astronomers has detected the sonic boom from an immensely powerful cosmic explosion, even though the explosion itself was totally unseen. The titanic eruption, known as a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB), was generated by the collapse of a massive star in a galaxy nearly 300 million light-years from Earth.

Since the big bang, fewer galaxy clusters have formed over time than was actually expected. Physicists from the have now confirmed this phenomenon. For the next years the researchers will analyze their data in even greater detail. This will put them in a position to confirm whether the theories considered valid today need to be reworked.

The first-ever detection of highly energetic radiation from a microquasar has astrophysicists scrambling for new theories to explain the extreme particle acceleration. A microquasar is a black hole that gobbles up debris from a nearby companion star and blasts out powerful jets of material.

By zapping a layer of meteor residue in the atmosphere with ground-based lasers, scientists are getting a new view of Earth's magnetic field.

On the hunt for distant worlds, researchers have identified an exomoon candidate around the transiting exoplanet Kepler-1625b that indicates the presence of a previously unknown gas-giant moon.

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray Observatory (HAWC) collaboration has detected highly energetic light coming from a microquasar -- a black hole that gobbles up stuff from a companion star and blasts out powerful jets of material. Data analysis indicates that electron acceleration and collisions at the ends of the microquasar's jets produced powerful gamma rays. Multi-wavelength messengers from this unusual microquasar may offer scientists a glimpse into more extreme events happening in distant galaxies.

A new model is bringing scientists a step closer to understanding the kinds of light signals produced when two supermassive black holes, which are millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun, spiral toward a collision.

Scientists have developed a novel approach that boosts the chances of finding extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy. The method uses probability theory to calculate the possibility of detecting an extraterrestrial signal (if there is one) at a given distance from Earth.