Reconstructed ancient plant protein should help crops counter the ongoing rise in global temperatures, says Cornell University plant biologist.

Apollo’s last three missions were arguably the most scientifically significant, largely due to roving vehicles which the astronauts used to jaunt from point to point over the Moon’s extremely difficult terrain.

Twenty years after the publication of their game-changing book “Rare Earth,” Ward and Brownlee argue that planets like Earth are likely as rare as ever.

Great new episode with former Fermilab physicist Gerald Jackson who chats about antimatter propulsion and the politics of advanced propulsion research. This one is out a bit later in the week than normal, but please listen. Good stuff.

Guest Gerald Jackson, former Fermilab physicist and advanced propulsion entrepreneur chats about his plans for an Antimatter Propulsion interstellar robotic probe. First stop would be Proxima Centauri. In a wide-ranging interview, Jackson talks about the politics and pitfalls of advance propulsion research. Too many people seem to think antimatter is something that is still science fiction. It’s not. It’s as real as the chair you’re sitting on.

NASA successfully detects an earthquake aftershock using balloon-borne seismometers. This new balloon technology may be used to explore Venus’ deep interior from high in its atmosphere.

Great new, lively episode with historian and author Jeff Shesol on the earliest and arguably darkest days of the Cold War and how they were inexorably intertwined with America’s space race with the former Soviet Union. The cast of characters includes Eisenhower, JFK, Khrushchev, and John Glenn. Please have a listen.

Historian and former Clinton presidential speechwriter Jeff Shesol chats about his new book, “Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy and the New Battleground of the Cold War” just out from W.W. Norton. Shesol makes the case that the Cold War and the Space Race were inextricably intertwined in ways that are rarely appreciated in most conventional histories of the subjects. Shesol gives us a great inside look into this mostly-forgotten early era.

Fascinating new history of the earliest days of America’s space program details why the space race with the Soviet Union was more dire than generally appreciated.

Great new episode with guest Ben K.D. Pearce on how and why our own genetic code was able to form in Earth’s warm little ponds as early as 4.5 billion years ago. Please have a listen.

Guest Ben K.D. Pearce, a Ph.D student in astrophysics and astrobiology at McMaster University in Toronto, and an expert on the origins of life’s building blocks here on Earth. We discuss the idea that all the genetic components from which life emerged were incredibly readily available biogenically very early in Earth’s evolution. As early as 4.5 billion years ago. Pearce is part of a group making great strides in learning how this all may have happened in Earth’s very ancient warm little ponds.

Paradoxically, Jupiter’s ice-covered moon of Europa may have seafloor volcanoes capable of generating enough chemical energy and heat to support life, says new paper.

Even if the interstellar object known as Oumuamua were an interstellar lightsail, it could never travel fast enough to be practical, says a new paper.