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From the editors at The Conversation, an independent news organization based in Boston that publishes articles written by academic experts and edited by a team of journalists.

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This age old question has been dubbed Olbers' paradox.

Why is space so dark even though the universe is filled with stars?

An astronomer explains why space looks so dark despite containing 200 billion trillion stars.

Humans and animals can both think logically − but testing what kind of logic they’re using is tricky

How researchers measure the logical reasoning of monkeys, pigeons, rats, fish and wasps shapes how they understand mental processes in animals − and in people.

Pop, soda or coke? The fizzy history behind America’s favorite linguistic debate

An expert in American dialects explains how a ‘health drink’ from the early 1800s spawned so many names and variations.

The great population peak: What happens after 10.3B?

Vital Records Index NYC reports global population is set to peak at 10.3B by 2080s, then decline, prompting economic and demographic shifts.

NASA's Webb telescope captured a photo of the asteroid 2024 YR4 from afar.

How do scientists calculate the probability that an asteroid could hit Earth?

Keeping Earth safe from asteroids isn’t just spotting them – it’s also helping people understand what a high-impact probability with Earth means.

A simulation of a set of synthetic galaxies. Photons are sampled from these galaxies and have been simulated through the Earth's atmosphere, a telescope and a sensor using a code called PhoSim. John Peterson/Purdue

Astronomy has a major data problem – simulating realistic images of the sky can help train algorithms

To make a truly realistic fake picture of a galaxy, you can model exactly how light particles travel through the atmosphere and telescope to reach its sensor.

Many heavy atoms form from a supernova explosion, the remnants of which are shown in this image.

How do atoms form? A physicist explains where the atoms that make up everything around come from

Almost everything on Earth is made up of atoms, but where do these fundamental building blocks come from?

Siccar Point, photographed by the Curiosity rover, is near Mars' Gale Crater.

Is Mars really red? A physicist explains the planet’s reddish hue and why it looks different to some telescopes

Mars isn’t a bright, fire-engine red, but the iron oxide in its rocks makes it appear redder than other planets, especially from afar.

Astronomers have found a way to estimate the number of stars in the universe.

How many stars are there in space?

Scientists have a good estimate on the staggering number of stars in the universe.

AI literacy is a lot more than simply knowing how to prompt an AI chatbot.

AI literacy: What it is, what it isn’t, who needs it and why it’s hard to define

President Trump’s executive order calling for AI literacy highlights its importance. The order also underscores its amorphous nature. Here’s how to develop and measure effective AI literacy programs.

The assumption was that the wheel evolved from wooden rollers.

How was the wheel invented? Computer simulations reveal the unlikely birth of a world-changing technology nearly 6,000 years ago

People have long assumed that wheels evolved from simple wooden rollers. But how? And why? A new model focused on mechanical advantage and structural strength suggests some answers.

5 benefits Africa’s new space agency can deliver

Africa’s new space agency has an important role to play in coordinating satellite data and boosting connectivity.

Fossils show colonies of reptiles lived communally 250 million years ago: new South African study

A new fossil discovery suggests that reptiles lived together 20 million years earlier than previously thought.

Even bivalves looked different during the time of the dinosaurs, as these fossils of an ultra-fortified oyster, left, and armored cockle show. Smithsonian Institution

Ancient fossils show how the last mass extinction forever scrambled the ocean’s biodiversity

Not everything dies in a mass extinction. Sea life recovered in different and surprising ways after the asteroid strike 66 million years ago. Ancient fossils recorded it all.

In space, there are four dimensions: length, width, height and time.

Where is the center of the universe?

As the universe expands, it feels like it must be spreading out from some initial point. But a physicist explains why that’s not how it works. Hint: space-time is involved.