Physics

Getting to Mars today takes about seven months — a grueling journey that exposes astronauts to radiation, bone loss, and psychological stress. A new electromagnetic thruster tested at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory could cut that time dramatically. The experimental engine uses lithium vapor as fuel, heated to extreme temperatures and accelerated by intense magnetic fields. […]

In 2022, São Jorge Island in the Azores was rocked by thousands of earthquakes in a matter of weeks. Scientists now know why: a massive surge of magma was silently pushing upward from more than 20 kilometers underground. This «stealth» magma intrusion was unlike anything seismologists had seen. The magma didn’t erupt — it stalled,