Why science has abandoned the existence of the aether

There are many working in theoretical physics who keep trying to bring back the long-discredited idea of the aether.

But physics doesn't need it at all.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/aether-exist/

A new experiment deepens the physics mystery over “big G”

Last month, a NIST team published a 10-year study to measure "big G," the gravitational constant.

It didn't settle the debate, but rather revealed what everyone should consider.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/new-experiment-physics-mystery-g/

The science case for why Pluto should become a planet (again)

The current IAU definition of planet is now 20 years old, and in that time, we've learned a whole lot more about moons and dwarf planets.

Here's why they should be planets, too.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/science-pluto-become-planet-again/

Supermassive black holes launch the most powerful cosmic jets

All across the cosmos, charged particles accelerate and get collimated into jets.

And the longest, most powerful ones all originate from supermassive black holes.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/supermassive-black-holes-launch-powerful-jets/

Ask Ethan: How can ultra-distant galaxies move so fast?

If you translate redshift into a special relativity velocity, you'll find the most distant galaxy, MoM-z14, speeds away from us at 99.2% the speed of light.

How is that possible?

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/how-galaxies-move-fast/

The science case for why Pluto still isn’t a planet

Sure, we lived in a simpler time when we had 9 planets, including Pluto.

But we've learned a whole lot since 1929, and can't in good conscience ignore it to suit our comforts.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/pluto-not-planet/

Dark matter in the Bullet Cluster celebrates 20 years

It was our first empirical proof of dark matter, using the natural lab of the Universe.

Contrarians argue against it, but the evidence speaks louder than any ideologically-driven voice.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/dark-matter-bullet-cluster-595214/

The challenge of celebrating Artemis II as NASA cuts loom

With Artemis II, we sent humans back to the Moon for the first time in 54 years, breaking our the all-time distance record from Earth.

But few are celebrating amid deep NASA and NSF cuts.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/challenge-celebrating-artemis-ii-nasa-cuts/

I'm sure this is fine.

This is fine.

Surely nothing bad could ever come from this.

Right, @sundogplanets?

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/27/meta-inks-deal-for-solar-power-at-night-beamed-from-space/

The particles in the early Universe painted a different picture

The Standard Model is well-understood: quarks, leptons, gluons, the photon, the W-and-Z bosons, plus the Higgs boson.

But many things looked very different early on.
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/particles-early-universe/