Our universe may have started with the big bang, but it took time for stars to form. Now scientists believe they've captured the first clues to when that happened.

How spiritualists of the 19th century forged a lasting association between higher dimensions and the occult world. By Paul Halpern.

At the end of the 19th century, inspired by radical advances in technology, physicists asserted the reality of invisible worlds — an idea through which they sought to address not only psychic phenomena such as telepathy, but also spiritual questions around the soul and immortality. Philip Ball explores this fascinating history, and how in this turn to the unseen in the face of mystery there exists a parallel to quantum physics today.

Terry Rudolph, Imperial College London (Nov. 5, 2014)

Think there’s no time like the present? Modern physics begs to differ. By Mark Shumelda.

A new study published in Physical Review Letters outlines how scientists could use gravitational wave experiments to test the existence of primordial black holes, gravity wells formed just moments after the Big Bang that some scientists have posited could be an explanation for dark matter. By Kevin Stacey. (Nov. 30, 2017)

Astronomers are mystified by a strange star explosion in a distant galaxy that might be a relic from an earlier cosmological era.

The aestivation hypothesis for resolving Fermi’s paradox. By Anders Sandberg, Stuart Armstrong and Milan Ćirković. (May 10, 2017) [PDF]

Two Princeton physicists catch Albert up. By Steven Gubser, Frans Pretorius.

New research has revealed more about how superpowerful gamma-ray bursts are generated and how they evolve over time. By Elizabeth Howell.

Take chemistry, add energy, get life. The first tests of Jeremy England’s provocative origin-of-life hypothesis are in, and they appear to show how order can arise from nothing. By Natalie Wolchover.

Scientists aren’t yet certain that electrons and their relatives are violating the Standard Model of particle physics, but the evidence is mounting. By Jesse Dunietz.

Many scientists say there's no purpose to life – but a theoretical study suggests there could be. By Michael E. Price.

A look at the scientific evidence for panspermia. By Daniel Oberhaus.

Despite its confounding reputation, quantum mechanics both guides and helps explain human intuition. By Philip Ball.

A 13th-century conflict between faith and science ultimately led to a surprising outcome: a medieval multiverse theory. By Sarah Laskow.

A team of researchers says the Milky Way resides in one of the observable universe’s darkest regions, but some experts aren't so sure

Time isn’t just another dimension, argues Tim Maudlin. To make his case, he’s had to reinvent geometry. By George Musser.

According to the Fermi LAT collaboration, the galaxy’s excessive gamma-ray glow likely comes from pulsars, the remains of collapsed ancient stars. By Manuel Gnida.

Scientists have created a fluid with "negative mass" which they claim can be used to explore some of the more challenging concepts of the cosmos. By Chiara Palazzo.