Brood II is just one of several broods of 13-year and 17-year periodical cicadas: The last big bug outbreak featured Brood XIX, which created a huge buzz in Southern states in 2011.

Because the Big Ring is so far from Earth — 9 billion light-years away — its light is too dim to be viewed with the naked eye. But if it were brighter, it would appear 15 times the size of the ...

The standard model of cosmology relies on an accurate reading of the cosmic microwave background. This radiation, emitted 380,000 years after the Big Bang, is considered proof of the theory's ...

For one, scientists observe a "cosmic fossil" called the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The first light that was free to ...

Observing the interactions between dark matter and so-called "dark photons" during a period after the Big Bang called the "cosmic dawn" could help shed light on the universe's most mysterious and ...

After the Big Bang, the unified superforce would have separated out into the forces of nature we see today by going through a series of phase transitions, akin to liquid water freezing into ice. This ...