The light echo around the star V838 Monocerotis as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in November 2005. When I was a teenager, I was—shockingly, I know—deeply nerdy. At a science-fiction convention, I ...

If there is an absolute law in the universe, it’s that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. For science-fiction enthusiasts, that’s a bit depressing. Space is big, and while the speed of ...

Faster-than-light (FTL) travel is a concept that has long captivated both the scientific community and science fiction enthusiasts. In a cosmos where light speed is viewed as the ultimate velocity ...

Here is a thought experiment for you: imagine shining a powerful laser at the moon, the beam cutting through space until it lands on its dusty grey surface. Now flick the laser so the spot of light ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Space — the final frontier. These are the words that introduce every episode of classic "Star Trek," the show that essentially popularized the concept of traveling the stars at the speed of light – or ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

When I was a teenager, I was—shockingly, I know—deeply nerdy. At a science-fiction convention, I bought a button that read, “186,282 miles/second: Not just a good idea, it’s the law.” It was poking ...