Tom Metcalfe

Live Science Contributor

Tom Metcalfe is a freelance journalist and regular Live Science contributor who is based in London in the United Kingdom. Tom writes mainly about science, space, archaeology, the Earth and the oceans. He has also written for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & Space, and many others.

Articles by: Tom Metcalfe

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown breeding colony of emperor penguins in satellite photographs of West Antarctica.

Hidden, never-before-seen penguin colony spotted from space

By Tom Metcalfe published

Satellite photos showing poop stains in the West Antarctic snow and ice have revealed a previously unknown breeding colony of emperor penguins.

The Hyades star cluster (pink) curls across the sky amid well-known constellations (green). The cluster is at the center of a controversial new study proposing an alternative to Newton's theory of gravity.

Lopsided star cluster may disprove Newton and Einstein, controversial new study claims

By Tom Metcalfe published

An uneven distribution of stars in several nearby clusters may offer evidence of MOND — a controversial theory of gravity that disputes Newton and rejects the existence of dark matter.

A previously unpublished note by Galileo refers to criticism by the Italian scholar Ludovico delle Colombe, who had suggested that the "new star" seen in 1604 was always there, but had only recently been seen.

Forged Galileo manuscript leads experts to controversial book he secretly wrote

By Tom Metcalfe published

A manuscript attributed to Galileo Galilei found to be a forgery in August has led to the discovery that a different, controversial book was authored by the celebrated Italian astronomer.

A fragment of transparent quartz crystal found at Neolithic burial site.

'Magical' rock crystals found at Stone Age ceremonial site in England

By Tom Metcalfe published

Neolithic people sprinkled the crystals over burials.

Researchers discovered a highly reactive chemical that they had long thought was too unstable to last under atmospheric conditions.

New, extremely reactive chemical discovered in the atmosphere

By Tom Metcalfe published

Millions of tons of a type of extremely reactive chemical can form in the atmosphere each year, with implications for health and the global climate.

The doughnut-shaped fusion chamber of the TCV contains the superheated hydrogen plasmas in powerful magnetic fields to keep it from damaging the walls.

Physicists just rewrote a foundational rule for nuclear fusion reactors that could unleash twice the power

By Tom Metcalfe published

Future fusion reactions inside tokamaks could shine even brighter than before, thanks to groundbreaking new research to find the maximum density of the hydrogen plasma fuel that powers them.

The Mars Curiosity rover's Mast camera snapped this intriguing image of the Red Planet, showing a "doorway" structure, on May 7, 2022, or Sol 3466 in Martian days.

The 'doorway' seen on Mars is not for aliens. Here's how it really formed.

By Tom Metcalfe published

The internet erupted after a photograph from the Mars Curiosity rover appeared to show an "alien door," experts are pretty sure it's just a natural feature.

The two massive sunspot groups, known as AR 2993 and AR 2994, became visible a few days ago at the northeast limb of the sun after becoming active while still hidden by the sun's disk.

New swarms of sunspots are so gigantic they could devour Earth whole

By Tom Metcalfe last updated

Two immense swarms of sunspots have popped into view on the surface of the sun, hinting at the increased possibilities of vivid auroras and potentially damaging solar flares over the months to come.

Mikoyan MiG-31K fighter jets with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles fly over Moscow's Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, on May 09, 2018. Russia has claimed it used these missiles for the first time in combat with Ukraine.

Russia strikes Ukraine with new hypersonic missiles: Here's how they work.

By Tom Metcalfe published

Russia claims to have used its Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time, in its invasion of Ukraine. Here's why these super-fast weapons are so concerning.

The experimental TCV tokamak at Lausanne in Switzerland is used to test the behavior of hydrogen plasmas that will serve as fuel in future fusion reactors.

Nuclear fusion is one step closer with new AI breakthrough

By Tom Metcalfe published

The green energy revolution is getting closer.

The fusion reactions at the National Ignition Facility takes place at the heart of the world's most powerful laser system, which consumes about 400 MJ of energy each time it's fired.

'Burning' hydrogen plasma in the world's largest laser sets fusion records

By Tom Metcalfe published

The secret behind a record-breaking nuclear fusion experiment that spit out 10 quadrillion watts of power in a split second has been revealed.

Star trails are seen over the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope on Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.

Largest dark energy map could reveal the fate of the universe

By Tom Metcalfe published

A telescope in Arizona modified to measure the true distance of galaxies has produced the largest three-dimensional map of the universe ever.

The atomic structure of magnesium-18, just created inside a giant atom smasher, is shown in this illustration.

Scientists create never-before-seen isotope of magnesium

By Tom Metcalfe published

Scientists have just created the world's lightest form of magnesium — a never-before-seen isotope with just six neutrons in its atomic nuclei.

An aerial view of the crater from the explosion of the V2 rocket in 1944 being excavated last month. The site was an orchard when the rocket hit it 77 years ago.

Remains of Nazi V2, the first supersonic rocket, unearthed in South East England

By Tom Metcalfe published

The remains of a V2 rocket fired by Nazi Germany at London during World War II have been unearthed in a field in the southeast of England, where it crashed and exploded before reaching its target.

This aerial picture taken on July 27, 2021, shows a burned forest at Gorny Ulus, west of Yakutsk, in Siberia.

Siberian wildfires dwarf all others on Earth combined

By Tom Metcalfe published

Smoke from massive wildfires in Russia's eastern Siberia region has reached the geographic North Pole "for the first time in recorded history," according to NASA.

Snowcapped mountains in Akureyri, Iceland.

Iceland may be the tip of a sunken continent

By Tom Metcalfe published

Iceland may be the last exposed remnant of a nearly Texas-size continent — called Icelandia — that sank beneath the North Atlantic Ocean about 10 million years ago

This iceberg-filled passage, Lemaire Channel, lies in the Southern Ocean.

Earth's fifth ocean just confirmed

By Tom Metcalfe published

a black hole

Dark matter could be made of black holes from the beginning of time

By Tom Metcalfe published

Evidence of collisions between black holes and neutron stars suggests dark matter might consist of concentrations of primordial black holes.

The spiral galaxy NGC 5585, which is nestled on the tail of the Great Bear in the constellation of Ursa Major, is one of many that have revealed the presence of an invisible substance called dark matter.

Scientists narrow down the 'weight' of dark matter trillions of trillions of times

By Tom Metcalfe published

Scientists are finally figuring out how much dark matter — the almost imperceptible material said to tug on everything, yet emit no light — really weighs.

A black hole as seen from the surface of a planet.

Aliens could be sucking energy from black holes. That may be how we'll find them.

By Tom Metcalfe published

Mirabilite deposits often beneath the waters of the Great Salt Lake in winter, but this is the first time it has formed exposed mounds above the surface.

Strange 'martian' mineral mounds rise up from Utah's Great Salt Lake

By Tom Metcalfe published

Rare mounds of a crystalline mineral have emerged above the surface of Utah's Great Salt Lake, where they're expected to remain just a few months before disappearing again.

The instruments on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory can reveal the intense magnetic fields generated by the sun that tangle as it rotates.

First new sunspots in 40 days herald coming solar cycle

By Tom Metcalfe last updated

Two new sunspots have ended a long period of relative quiet on the surface of our blazing host star, heralding the start of a new 11-year cycle of sunspot activity.

The scientists on the expedition hope that two specialized arrays of metal detectors, towed by snowmobiles, will reveal iron meteorites from the early solar system just below the icy surface.

'Lost' Iron Meteorites May Lurk Beneath Antarctic Ice. Scientists on Quest to Find Them.

By Tom Metcalfe published

Scientists are scouring the remote Antarctic ice cap for rare meteorites chock-full of iron and holding secrets to the history of our solar system going back some 4.5 billion years.

Russia's Skybot F-850: "Not a Terminator" but a space robot, and will launch to the International Space Station on a Soyuz space capsule in August 2019.

Meet Skybot F-850, the Humanoid Robot Russia Is Launching into Space

By Tom Metcalfe published

When a Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches from Kazakhstan for the International Space Station Wednesday, it will carry a humanoid robot called Skybot F-850.

The galaxy NGC 4485 has been dramatically warped by a larger neighbor, NGC 4490, out of frame to the bottom right in this image.

Titanic Galactic Collision Left One Galaxy Twisted and Warped, Hubble Reveals

By Tom Metcalfe published

A new photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the spectacular consequences when two galaxies collide.

Other versions of this page are available with specific content for the following regions: