Rahul Rao

Rahul Rao is a freelance science writer and a graduate of New York University's Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP).

As a freelancer, he writes regularly about physics, space, and infrastructure. His work has appeared in Gizmodo, Popular Science, IEEE Spectrum, and Continuum. He enjoys riding trains for fun, and he has seen every surviving episode of Doctor Who.

Before becoming a journalist, Rahul completed his bachelors at Vanderbilt University in physics and English. Rahul is based in New York.

Reel Science

Is the Kessler Effect in Gravity Really That Dangerous? Here's What Astrophysicists Think

Researchers from a range of fields agree that the current state of Earth's orbit is on course for a disaster much like that in the film.

Next in Tech

The Rocket That Could Take Humans to Mars Has Been 50 Years in the Making

Most of today’s rockets are chemical rockets, generating immense energy from chemical reactions. But if we want to go to Mars, we need nuclear energy.

Reel Science

Scientists Debunk the Most Advanced Space Tech We’ve Ever Seen in Star Wars

Ahsoka is about to make Star Wars history by traveling to another galaxy. Could humanity do the same thing one day?

HORIZONS

A Strange 1950s Technology Could Finally Bring Fusion Energy to the Grid

The stellarator is back, baby.

Innovation

Deepfakes could get super advanced (and weird) thanks to these breakthroughs

If the models do improve, they could create some of the most advanced deepfakes out there.

Science

Webb Telescope finds carbon dioxide in a hot Jupiter atmosphere — with hopes for smaller planets down the line

While the planet is too large and hot for life, it could help us study more Earth-like exoplanets.

like the tool song

This beautiful math equation could herald a quantum computing breakthrough

The Fibonacci sequence may unleash the potential of nascent quantum computers.

Science

Large Hadron Collider physicists find new particles in old data

These new kinds of quarks don’t last long.

Science

The Large Hadron Collider restarts next week — here's what it's hunting for

Here's what you need to know.

we're not saying it's aliens ... (because it's probably not)

China's search for alien life turns up something suspicious — but there's a catch

Rumblings of mysterious signals from outer space are going around — but how much stock should you put in them?

Stuck the landing

Boeing’s Starliner lands in the desert — and brings NASA one step closer to a key strategic goal

Starliner’s path to success has been turbulent.

Science

The first congressional hearing on UFOs in 50 years shows America’s interest in aliens will never fade

In the 1960s, just as now, the US military expressed great interest in UFOs.

Inside the FBI's secret Einstein file: Flying saucers and Soviet conspiracies

While the Red Scare was making America panic, the FBI had their eyes on the famed physicist.