Darren Orf

Darren Orf is a writer and editor with an unceasing passion for science and the natural world. He covers space science, technology, physics, and everything in between — including science fiction.

Darren lives in Portland, Oregon, with his cat named Dune. His writing can be found at Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Esquire, and many other small pockets of the internet.

Innovation

Blue Origin rocket suffers severe malfunction in flight

At least it’s a good test of safety systems.

Science

A sneaky interloper behind our galaxy’s center complicates the search for dark matter

Is it dark matter or pulsars giving off weird gamma rays?

Innovation

After quitting the ISS, Russia reveals its next-gen space station

Meet ROSS, Russia’s new space station.

watch out, avi

The Webb Telescope will drop everything to observe the next interstellar object

Comet? Asteroid? Alien? Webb could suss out these strange interlopers.

reveal yourself!

How the Webb Telescope will unveil the mysteries of cosmic star-making factories

Scientists know galaxy mergers play a big role in forming today’s universe. They just don’t know how they work.

Science

The answer to the Planet Nine mystery could come sooner than you think

Is it a planet, a black hole, or a group of planets? One astronomer has an ambitious idea to find out.

Science

Scientists just laid the cornerstone of our quantum internet future

And the mortar holding it together is teleportation.