Anita Chandran
Physicist
Anita Chandran is a physicist, science writer, and editor based in London.
Recent articles by Anita Chandran
Major breakthrough. Astronomers have found sugar in clouds between stars for the first time, hinting the ingredients for life formed in deep space
Researchers detected the sugar erythrulose in the molecular cloud G+0.693−0.027 near the centre of the Milky Way.
Search for life on Mars takes major leap forward. Scientists detect longest organic molecules on planet to date
Scientists make discovery analysing rock pulverised for study by Curiosity rover. Largest organic compounds found on the Red Planet to date.
Isaac Newton: life and discoveries of the great British scientist
A look at the life of one of history’s most famous astronomers
Webb Telescope may have uncovered ancient stars powered by dark matter
Dark stars are candidates for the first stars that formed in the Universe, powered by dark matter.
A scientist looked at 'little red dots' in the early Universe and found a black hole that shouldn't exist
The mystery of ‘little red dots’ just got deeper, as a galaxy hiding an overmassive black hole hints at a whole population of cosmic Jekyll and Hydes
The James Webb Space Telescope has found the most distant galaxy ever seen, at the dawn of the cosmos. Again.
Galaxy MoM-z14 traces back to just 280 million years after the Big Bang
We thought the Universe was the same everywhere. But it turns out it could be much stranger than we'd imagined
We assume the Universe looks broadly the same no matter where you are or which way you look. A study is throwing that assumption into doubt.
Scientists looked at the centre of our Galaxy and found some really weird structures
Scientists looking at the centre of our Galaxy have found long, slim filaments made not of dust but gas, and forged by powerful shockwaves
A single solar storm could knock out Earth’s tech. This plucky spacecraft could be our best weapon to help protect our planet
ESA's SMILE spacecraft aims to reveal what happens when the Sun’s onslaught meets Earth’s magnetic defences
If dark matter is everywhere, why do some galaxies seem to contain none at all?
What does it mean to find a galaxy without dark matter, or with very little of it?
A large amount of the Universe is missing. Scientists think they may have found it
A lot of normal matter in the Universe is missing. Astronomers think they might have found it, and it's been hiding in plain sight all along.
Neil deGrasse Tyson wants you to be ready for an alien encounter. Here’s how he’d make first contact
Forget Hollywood: aliens should look as different to us as we do to bananas, says
deGrasse Tyson
Earth could be sitting in the centre of a giant cosmic void, say scientists
For the theory to hold, Earth would need to lie near the centre of a void around a billion lightyears in radius
Humans will evolve differently on Mars. This is how science says our bodies will transform on the Red Planet
Scott Solomon is an evolutionary biologist. We spoke to him about what our descendants in future settlements on the Red Planet might look like
What would aliens really look like? Here's what the science says. And no, it's not little green men...
We talk to astronomer Professor Jon Willis about what form alien life may take based on evidence we find on Earth
Scientists detected a mysterious signal from deep space lasting seven hours. Now they believe they've cracked it
In 2025, astronomers detected a blast from space. Now they’re uncovering the strange processes behind the exceptional outburst
This nearby planet is like Earth, it could be habitable... And we very nearly missed it
A forgotten signal found by citizen scientists could be a habitable Earth-like planet. Here’s how astronomers tracked it down
Dark matter is invisible, but it's the most common stuff in the Universe. These scientists just made a detailed map of it
The James Webb Space Telescope has enabled scientists to produce a detailed dark matter map
End of the Universe could come sooner than expected
How the Webb Telescope found complex organic molecules in the distant early Universe
Complex organic molecules found in distant galaxy 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
How astronomers found a real Star Wars-style 'Tatooine' planet with two suns
The story of exoplanet BEBOP-1c, a 'Tatooine' world that orbits two suns.
Saturn's rings may be falling into the planet. Here's how long we've got before they're gone forever
What are Saturn's rings made of, why are they disappearing and how long will they last?
Have we been measuring the Universe wrong this whole time? New discovery could solve a huge cosmic mystery
Fresh evidence shows supernovae aren’t the yardsticks we thought, putting the standard model of an accelerating expanding Universe in doubt.
