Explainers
The Long View steps back. A single finding rarely means much on its own, so this desk connects new research to what came before it, across physics, biology, medicine, and everything in between.
At 102:38:26 mission elapsed time, the Apollo 11 lunar module was still more than seven minutes from touchdown when Neil Armstrong announced a program alarm.
Aug 10, 2026
Almost all of Earth's gold was forged in the collision of two neutron stars long before the solar system formed. The 2017 detection of GW170817 turned that inference into direct observation.
Aug 10, 2026
On January 6, 1912, a 31-year-old German meteorologist stood in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt and told a room of geologists that the continents beneath their feet were moving.
Aug 9, 2026
In November 1970, the Soviet Union landed the first rover to drive on another world. It ran for 322 days, then went dark. In 2010, NASA finally found it again — and its French-built mirror answered on the first try.
Aug 8, 2026
On the evening of April 12, 1955, sitting under studio lights across from Edward R.
Aug 8, 2026
The famous ouroboros dream Kekulé described in 1890 arrived 25 years after his benzene paper and left no contemporary paper trail. The hexagon itself, however, transformed organic chemistry — and industry — forever.
Aug 6, 2026
Sergei Krikalev launched to Mir in May 1991 as a Soviet citizen and landed 311 days later in a country that no longer existed, his home city renamed, his salary destroyed by hyperinflation.
Aug 5, 2026
On the morning of August 18, 1868, a French astronomer named Pierre Janssen stood in the coastal town of Guntur, in Andhra Pradesh on the southeastern coast of India, and watched the Moon slide across the face of the Sun.
Aug 4, 2026
