How clonal raider ants update their friend-or-foe recognition

For ants, the ability to instantly distinguish nestmates from outsiders who might hijack the colony is crucial. Now, a new ...
Shortlist

The real space science of Project Hail Mary

Lord and Miller’s Project Hail Mary is a big-hearted space adventure that’s ultimately about a friendship between Ryan Gosling’s accidental astronaut Ryland Grace and his alien buddy Rocky. There’s a ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Alien Life Could Look Nothing Like What We Expect. Here’s How Microbes Beyond Earth Might Live Without Liquid Water

Like the lead character of “Project Hail Mary,” some scientists are proposing ways that life might exist beyond a star’s ...

I talked to Andy Weir about the astrobiology behind 'Project Hail Mary'

"Project Hail Mary", the new movie based on author Andy Weir's book of the same name, is a wild romp through the cosmos. The film explores many of the same areas of science as Wei ...

5 sci-fi remakes that were better than the original movie

Remakes generally fail to live up to the original movie, but these five sci-fi examples managed to both match up to and outshine their inspirations.

In ‘Project Hail Mary,’ saving the galaxy requires a hopeful, nerdy Ryan Gosling

Verse," the filmmaking team Lord and Miller blasts Ryan Gosling off on a funny, inspiring space adventure about the best of humanity.

Space-traveling microbes? An unusual experiment shocked skeptics.

After her initial test run, she cultured a regular sample, as well as the shocked sample so she could compare them side by ...