This map shows the oldest light in our universe, as detected by the Planck mission. Click on the map for a larger image.
By now the Big Bang theory is widely accepted scientifically. The idea is that the universe began to expand rapidly about 14 billion years ago from a dense, hot state and continues to expand to this day.

Reality television has been around since at least the late ’40s. First we had Candid Camera, where hapless, but real, people became the unwitting butt of Allen Funt’s jokes. But it wasn’t until fifty years later that the genre exploded, bringing us Big Brother and, of course, Survivor.

Albert Einstein is the patron saint of slackers redeemed. We’ve all heard some version of his late-bloomer story: “You know, Albert Einstein did terribly in high school” (says every high school guidance counselor at some point).

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals on Earth, able to reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.
Earlier this year, the team at National Geographic visited the Cincinnati Zoo and filmed cheetahs running at full sprint, as seen in the majestic video above.

After a 125-day stay aboard the International Space Station, ISS Commander Sunita (Suni) Williams touched down in Kazakhstan on Monday, along with Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide and Yuri Malanchenko.

Over the years, we’ve shown you Don Pettit’s work — his many timelapse videos taken from the International Space Station. (Find some below.) By now, we take these videos almost for granted. We watch the breathtaking scenery flow by, and we shrug our shoulders a bit.

The German composer Hans Zimmer has made a name for himself (and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame) by creating original scores for films. You’ve heard his music, even if you haven’t heard of him. The Lion King, The Dark Knight and Inception are a few of the films he scored.

Hovering some 22,300 miles above Earth, the GOES-14 satellite, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, captured images of Hurricane Sandy barreling its way across the Atlantic yesterday. The video above puts into animation a series of images taken over an 11 hour period.

Justin Wilkinson has a pretty cool sounding gig. He’s the chief geoscientist at NASA, and he learns all about planet Earth from space. When astronauts head to the International Space Station (ISS), Wilkinson asks them to snap pictures of various geographical locations.

Most of us have looked up our own addresses using Google Street View. But have you ever wished you could virtually dive right into the ocean, lake or river near your home?
It may not be long until you can. Google has taken its Street View model, complete with directional arrows and swipe-controlled scaling, and plunged into the watery universe.