This summer, director Fede Alvarez returns the infamous Alien franchise to its monster-movie roots, feeding a group of hapless young space colonists into a nest of “xenomorphs.” It remains to be seen whether Alien: Romulus will be more than a loving tribute to Ridley Scott’s original 1979 Alien, but it hardly matters—Alien is a series… Read More »
Antimatter engines could take humanity to the next stage of spaceflight, but building them for spacecraft is still a long way off.Nzoka John/Getty Images Antimatter engines could be humanity’s ticket to interstellar travel. When antimatter particles come into contact with normal matter, they produce large amounts of energy. This energy, if we learn to use… Read More »
Due to the mind-boggling distances and speeds required, interstellar travel would be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for humanity to achieve. But new research highlights another challenge: communication breakdowns. The star system closest to ours is alpha centauriIt’s over 4 light years away, so barring any fancy sci-fi technological revolutions over the next few centuries,… Read More »