"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools."
--1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.
"Correction: It is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum. The 'Times' regrets the error."
NY Times, July 1969.
New Scientist Space - Cosmology
Fight over changing constants reaches stalemate
What was supposed to be a superweapon in the battle to find out whether nature's fundamental constants vary has turned out to be a damp squib
Categories: Astronomy
Death-defying time crystal could outlast the universe
We don't have to take the heat death of the universe lying down – a time crystal, symmetrical in time rather than space, would have the power to survive
Categories: Astronomy
Death by helium for cosmos-mapping Planck observatory
The last of the spacecraft tasked with measuring the big bang's echo has run out of liquid coolant, effectively ending the mission
Categories: Astronomy
Naked black-hole hearts live in the fifth dimension
Contrary to a bet Stephen Hawking once made, the singularity at the heart of a black hole could exist "naked" – at least in a five-dimensional universe
Categories: Astronomy
Why physicists can't avoid a creation event
The big bang may not have been the beginning of everything – but new calculations suggest we still need a cosmic starter gun
Categories: Astronomy
Largest dark matter map holds clues to dark energy
We may not know what dark matter is but it's still helping to nail the properties of the equally mysterious dark energy
Categories: Astronomy