Author Archives: Stephen Eales

Last week's discovery of phosphine gas unsettled many assumptions scientists had about the "hell planet." But that doesn't necessarily mean there's life

It's a nervous wait for a €5bn rocket to launch. But it's worse if you're inside mission HQ

In recent decades, new technologies have revolutionised our understanding of the origins and nature of the universe. And now the big remaining questions—on dark matter and the universe's accelerating expansion—are turning cosmology into Big Science

We should fund science not for a direct economic return—but to attract creative people to Britain

Last year, the solar system was officially reduced to eight planets when Pluto was demoted by the International Astronomical Union. Here a member of the IAU explains why and how the decision was made