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.

Space

Physicists Confirm A Long-Held Belief About Dark Energy Using Unique Supernova

Astronomers just found the most solid evidence yet that dark energy is constant throughout the cosmos, unchanging with space or time.

By Rahul Rao
Space

This Common Gas Transformed Venus From Habitable To Hellish

For the first time, astronomers have used a 3D climate model to simulate a cool, Earth-like water world transforming into a Venus-like hothouse.

By Rahul Rao
The Inverse Awards

2023 Ignited a New Era For Nuclear Fusion. 2024 Could Be Even Brighter

“For the first time, all the pieces of the puzzle are there: the physics, the policy drivers, and the investment.”

By Rahul Rao
Space

What Created The Milky Way’s Mysterious Bar? A Galactic Collision, Maybe

Some astronomers already suspect that the bar formed around the same time as a massive collision.

By Rahul Rao
Science

Astronomers Discover Stars Containing Absurdly Heavy Elements Unlikely To Survive On Earth

Researchers found that some neutron stars contain elements that would be extremely unstable and short-lived on our home planet.

By Rahul Rao
Space

The Webb Telescope Went On A Hunt For Baby Stars — It Accidentally Discovered Something Far More Intriguing

A deadly poison on Earth, carbon monoxide is actually the second-most common molecule in the universe.

By Rahul Rao
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.

By Rahul Rao
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.

By Rahul Rao
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?

By Rahul Rao
HORIZONS

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

The stellarator is back, baby.

By Rahul Rao
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.

By Rahul Rao
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.

By Rahul Rao
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.

By Rahul Rao
Science

Large Hadron Collider physicists find new particles in old data

These new kinds of quarks don’t last long.

By Rahul Rao
Science

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

Here's what you need to know.

By Rahul Rao
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?

By Rahul Rao
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.

By Rahul Rao
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.

By Rahul Rao

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.

By Rahul Rao