Ambient sounds on Mars are lower-pitched and more muted than those on Earth

Supermassive black holes create pressure waves, detectable as extremely low sounds

Space is largely silent because it lacks a medium for sound waves. Some Mars rovers capture sounds of wind, though the sounds are too low to hear. Through sonification, astronomical data can be translated into hearable sounds for broader engagement.

Martian skies and sunsets resembled Earth's hundreds of millions of years ago

Evidence suggests that Mars has had a thicker atmosphere, which included greenhouse gases, and a magnetic field in its past, resembling Earth's current composition. After losing its magnetic field—the protection from solar wind—the atmosphere and its associated atmospheric phenomena gradually disappeared.

Perseverance captures an aurora on Mars

The Perseverance rover captured the first visible Martian aurora, offering insights into Mars's atmospheric interactions. A coronal mass ejection likely triggered the aurora since the planet lacks a global magnetic field.

Mars features distinct geographic contrasts between its northern and southern regions

Unlike the uniform terrains found in most rocky planets, Mars has a smooth, low northern hemisphere and a rough, high southern hemisphere with much thicker crust. This dichotomy may originate from a massive collision early in the planet’s history.

View the surface of Mars from NASA's Perseverance

Simulate a visit to the red planet with the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. This 3D interactive experience lets you explore various locations on the martian surface. See closeup images the rover has taken and view key points of interest. It's the next best thing to being there and certainly far safer!

Supersonic parachutes have allowed rovers to safely land on Mars' surface

The disk-band-gap parachute design was first developed for the Viking Project in the 1970s. Since then, it has been reinforced and uses stronger materials to handle larger payloads—including the 2020 Perseverance rover—landing it a world record.

Explore a timeline of NASA's exploration of Mars

NASA has studied Mars extensively over 60 years using telescopes, orbiters, and rovers. From April 2021 to January 24, the Ingenuity helicopter completed its technology demonstration objective by flying more than 17 kilometers above the Martian surface.

How NASA measures marsquakes

Most probes sent to other planets and asteroids focus on surface phenomena, but NASA's InSight Lander is interested in looking deeper. Studying marsquakes as well as the red planet's crust and core, InSight provided four years of insight into how the rocky planets of the inner solar system formed.

Dust particles on Mars can generate lightning

Through triboelectric charging, sand and dust on the Martian surface can become electrified when they rub against one another, causing friction to displace electrons and create charged particles. If this matter forms a strong enough electric field, it can overcome atmospheric insulation and produce electrical discharges, resembling lightning on Earth.

Besides Earth, Mars is the only possibly habitable planet in our solar system

Sending humans to Mars in the following decades poses significant challenges, from the vast distance covered to get materials there to powering technology during weekslong dust storms. Research is ongoing to develop life support systems that can regenerate or recycle consumables.

Particles found in Martian air pose significant risks to human lungs

Ultrafine dust, just 3 micrometers wide, is small enough to bypass lung defenses and enter the bloodstream, where its highly reactive chemicals can cause thyroid disease. Silica in the dust can also cause silicosis, a chronic and incurable lung disease.

Launched in 2020, NASA's Perseverance rover was equipped with a deployable helicopter

Nicknamed "Percy" and designed as the successor to the Curiosity rover, the vehicle has covered more than 36 kilometers (22 miles), collected dozens of samples, and taken hundreds of images while searching for signs of ancient microbial life.

Why breathing helium, sulfur hexafluoride, and other gases changes your voice

The speed of sound varies depending on the properties of the material it travels through, including its density. Because helium is less dense than air, sound travels faster, altering the timbre of one's voice to be squeakier by enhancing its higher frequencies. In molecules that are heavier than air, low-frequency sounds are enhanced, producing a deeper voice.

Crackling, popping, and rustling sounds have been reported during auroras

At the altitudes where auroras take place—between 100 and 300 kilometers (62 to 186 miles)—air is not dense enough to efficiently vibrate and carry sound waves to the ground. However, one theory suggests that the geomagnetic energy behind auroras can trigger electrical discharges near the surface, which may be the cause of reported sounds.

Modern sound mixing has contributed to audiences needing subtitles

Hidden, high-tech microphones allow actors to speak more softly, rather than yelling to be picked up by a distant boom mic, but this sacrifices clarity. The problem is exacerbated by mixing often prioritizing booming sound effects and soundtracks and audiences listening with small speakers on mobile devices.

Mar's moons, Phobos and Deimos, are thought to be captured asteroids

Of the two Martian moons, Phobos orbits more quickly, completing three revolutions a day. It gets 1.8 meters closer to Mars every year, and may crash into the planet in about 50 million years.

View the transparency of Earth's atmosphere and how it blocks most forms of light

The gases that make up Earth's atmosphere block most harmful forms of electromagnetic radiation from reaching the planet's surface, except for some ultraviolet light. Their transparency to radio waves means this form of light can reach Earth's surface, which is why most radio telescopes are ground-based rather than space-based.

JWST might spot life faster on ocean worlds than Earth-like ones

Unlike Earth-like planets, hycean worlds with thick hydrogen atmospheres and deep oceans could allow biosignature gases like methyl halides to accumulate in detectable levels. These gases, linked to microbial life on Earth, are easier for the James Webb Space Telescope to identify than traditional markers like oxygen or methane.

Audi spent over three years developing engine sounds for its electric vehicles

Unlike the sounds made by combustion engines in gas-powered vehicles, electric cars produce no motor sounds. The company's acoustics team worked with composer Rudolf Helpmier to craft an electric-inspired revving sound for its R8 e-tron supercar.

Muted smell and taste in microgravity complicate meal enjoyment

Astronauts primarily consume freeze-dried meals, which are rehydrated with water recycled from urine and perspiration, directly from bags. Condiments and select cultural items from crew members can enhance the meal experience by boosting flavor. Many individuals report experiencing "food fatigue" due to a lack of fresh produce, limited menu variety, and lingering scents.

Listen to forests around the world

Looking for something soothing to listen to? Tree.fm shares audio recordings of forests sent from people all over the world. Escape into the sounds of birds chirping, water flowing, or wind in the trees. This site offers a tool for those in need of meditative noises, and a bit of digital fresh air.

Mapping hearing loss in the US

Nearly 10% of Americans suffer from some degree of hearing loss, measured as the inability to hear sounds lower than 25 decibels. The incidence of hearing loss increases with age and is typically higher among men. Recent analysis produced a puzzling observation researchers can't quite explain: There's a larger incidence of hearing loss among rural populations than in urban centers. Explore the data with this map and explainer.

In 1938, 1.7 million people were fooled into believing a Martian invasion was underway because of a radio play

Orson Welles' realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth, called "The War of the Worlds," caused quite a stir with audiences. The broadcast resulted in panic, with some people in the area where the story took place attempting to flee. It also helped Welles secure a contract with a Hollywood studio, leading to the creation of "Citizen Kane."

The history and success of the mysterious Mars Inc.

Mars, Incorporated manufactures some of the world’s favorite treats, including M&M’s, Snickers, and Milky Way bars. Despite their success, you’ve probably not heard of them. The privately held company is largely unknown to the world despite being owned by the second-richest family in the US. This podcast discusses the mysterious Mars family and their remarkable entrepreneurial feat. Listen to uncover more.

Voyager carries Earth's hopeful greeting into deep space as a message of peace

Along with scientific instruments, each Voyager carried a golden record containing multilingual greetings—ranging from Sumerian and Akkadian to Thai and Cantonese—music, and sounds of Earth intended for any intelligent life that might find it.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time