A crumbling exoplanet spills its guts

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD. — For the first time, astronomers have taken a direct look at an exoplanet’s insides. An exoplanet about 800 light-years away is spilling its guts into space, and new observations with the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, have let astronomers read the entrails, astronomers report this week at a meeting of…

Read More

Megadroughts are on the rise worldwide

Megadroughts are increasing worldwide — and they’re also becoming both hotter and drier. Over the last 30 years, Earth has experienced an uptick in both frequency and intensity of these punishing, persistent droughts that can last years to decades, researchers report in the Jan. 17 Science. Such lengthy precipitation deficits not only shrink the drinking…

Read More