Be Smart
The Odds of Finding Life and Love
Love is a complicated combination of brain chemicals and behavior that scientists are only just beginning to figure out. And it's remarkable that in every society that we have looked at on Earth, romantic love exists. So if love is so...
SciShow
The World's First Human-Made Nuclear Reactor
Today on SciShow, Hank brings us a little science history, telling us the tale of the world's first human-made nuclear reactor, which was built by a team of scientists and students led by Enrico Fermi in a converted squash court under a...
TED Talks
Lucianne Walkowicz: Let's not use Mars as a backup planet
Stellar astronomer and TED Senior Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, searching for places in the universe that could support life. So it's worth a listen when she asks us to think carefully about Mars. In this...
Curated Video
Enrico Fermi, Military, and Scientific Research
Dr. Forrester tells the story of Enrico Fermi, and the application of his nuclear chain reaction technology. She then discusses the many consumer products that are a result of military research and development.
Curated Video
Fermi’s Paradox
Astronomer Jill Tarter, Director of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, discusses the so-called "Fermi Paradox" about extraterrestrial life developed by famous physicist Enrico Fermi.
Next Animation Studio
Neutron star’s halo could help explain antimatter near Earth
NASA’s Fermi telescope discovered a vast halo around a neutron star that could explain why there is so much antimatter near Earth.
NASA
NASA | Fermi Detects First Gamma-ray Pulsar in Another Galaxy
Researchers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have discovered the first gamma-ray pulsar in a galaxy other than our own. The object sets a new record for the most luminous gamma-ray pulsar known. The pulsar lies in the...
Curated Video
The Fermi Paradox: Are We Alone in the Universe?
The Fermi Paradox raises the question of why, despite the vast number of potentially habitable planets, we have not yet found evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. This video explores possible explanations, including the rarity...
NASA
New Simulation Creates "Pulsar in a Box"
Scientists studying what amounts to a computer-simulated "pulsar in a box" are gaining a more detailed understanding of the complex, high-energy environment around spinning neutron stars, also called pulsars. The model traces the paths...
NASA
NASA's Fermi Satellite Celebrates 10 Years of Discoveries
On June 11, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope celebrates a decade of using gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light in the cosmos, to study black holes, neutron stars, and other extreme cosmic objects and events. Fermi's main...
NASA
NASA | Fermi discovers giant gamma-ray bubbles in the Milky Way
Using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, scientists have discovered a gigantic, mysterious structure in our galaxy. This never-before-seen feature looks like a pair of bubbles extending above and below our galaxy's center....
NASA
Fermi Sees Gamma Rays from Far Side Solar Flares
An international science team says NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has observed high-energy light from solar eruptions located on the far side of the sun, which should block direct light from these events. This apparent paradox is...
NASA
NASA | Blazar Bonanza
A long time ago in a galaxy half the universe away, a flood of high-energy gamma rays began its journey to Earth. When they arrived in April, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope caught the outburst, which helped two ground-based...
NASA
NASA | Fermi Provides New Insights on Dark Matter
There's more to the cosmos than meets the eye. About 80 percent of the matter in the universe is invisible to telescopes, yet its gravitational influence is manifest in the orbital speeds of stars around galaxies and in the motions of...
NASA
NASA | Fermi Detects Gamma Rays from a Solar Flare
During a powerful solar blast in March, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun. The discovery heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new...
NASA
NASA | Fermi Finds Radio Bursts from Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes
Lightning in the clouds is directly linked to events that produce some of the highest-energy light naturally made on Earth: terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). An instrument aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was recently...
NASA
NASA Missions Team Up to Study Unique Magnetar Outburst
On April 28, a supermagnetized stellar remnant known as a magnetar blasted out a simultaneous mix of X-ray and radio signals never observed before. The flare-up included the first fast radio burst (FRB) ever seen from within our Milky...
NASA
NASA's Fermi Mission Shows How Luck Favors the Prepared
In 2017, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope played a pivotal role in two important breakthroughs occurring just five weeks apart. But what might seem like extraordinary good luck is really the product of research, analysis,...
NASA
NASA's Fermi Finds the Farthest Blazars
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has identified the farthest gamma-ray blazars, a type of galaxy whose intense emissions are powered by supersized black holes. Light from the most distant object began its journey to us when the...
NASA
NASA | Fermi Spots 'Superflares' in the Crab Nebula
The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in an enormous flare five times more powerful than any previously seen from the object. The outburst was first detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on April 12 and lasted...
NASA
NASA's Fermi Catches Gamma-ray Flashes from Tropical Storms
About a thousand times a day, thunderstorms fire off fleeting bursts of some of the highest-energy light naturally found on Earth. These events, called terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), last less than a millisecond and produce gamma...
NASA
NASA | NASA's Fermi Shows How Active Galaxies Can Be
Active galaxies called blazars make up the largest class of objects detected by Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT). Massive black holes in the hearts of these galaxies fire particle jets in our direction. Fermi team member Elizabeth Hays...
NASA
NASA | GLASTcast | Episode 2: What are Gamma Rays?
NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany,...
NASA
NASA’s Fermi Links Ghost Particle to Galaxy
Nearly 10 billion years ago, the black hole at the center of a distant galaxy produced a powerful outburst, and light from this blast began arriving at Earth in 2012. Astronomers using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and...