Science Times: 100 years ago, Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket

March 17, 2026

A black-and-white photo of Dr. Goddard standing in front of a chalk board, with a diagram of the Earth and moon on it, along with some writing and notes.

Bettmann/Getty Images

Spaceflight Started 100 Years Ago in a Massachusetts Cabbage Patch

Before humanity sent satellites, telescopes, humans and weapons into space, Robert Goddard experimented with the first liquid-fueled rocket on his aunt’s farm.

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

A giant platform carrying the upright Artemis rocket slowly makes its way into a giant hangar-type facility.

John Raoux/Associated Press

NASA Says Artemis II Moon Launch Is On Track for April 1

After postponing launch opportunities in February and March, the agency determined that four astronauts could proceed toward the first crewed lunar journey in more than 50 years.

By Katrina Miller

A row of panelists sit at tables covered with blue table cloths in a meeting area.

Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Judge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies

Ruling on a lawsuit brought by several prominent medical organizations, a district court said the federal government had not based its decisions on science in limiting Covid shots and revising the childhood immunization schedule.

By Apoorva Mandavilli

Panelists sitting in a semicircle. Behind some of them is a large screen that says “U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Alyssa Pointer/Reuters

Confidential Report Calls for Sweeping Changes to Track Covid Vaccine Harms

A federal work group says Covid vaccine injuries deserve urgent attention, even as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shifts away from talking about vaccine policy.

By Apoorva Mandavilli and Sheryl Gay Stolberg

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Two bright yellow-white-and-black birds face each other on a tree branch.

RCAustralia/Alamy

How to Bring a Bird’s Song Back From the Edge of Extinction

In a new study, wild regent honeyeaters became vocal tutors, teaching their disappearing song to birds in a captive breeding program.

By Emily Anthes

Gold-color parts of the Blue Ghost Lander over craters of the moon.

Firefly Aerospace, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Space Jam: NASA’s MADCAP Team Directs Traffic at the Moon

A “red alert” involving the private Blue Ghost mission in lunar orbit a year ago highlights a growing number of incidents above Earth’s neighbor.

By Kenneth Chang

Caine Delacy for The New York Times

Trump Administration Readies Plans to Dismantle Renowned Science Lab

Proposals include transferring a supercomputer to the University of Wyoming and shifting a space weather lab to a private company.

By Eric Niiler

A view from behind a person wearing a shirt that reads "FBI Evidence Response Team" as they set up surveyors and other equipment at a grassy cemetery.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

In Criminal Cases, Moss Is Often Underfoot and Overlooked

A group of scientists and law enforcement officials are pointing to the role moss can play to help solve crimes.

By Samantha Drake

Higurashi et al., The Anatomical Record, 2026

Trilobites

Why Falling Cats Always Seem to Land on Their Feet

It takes backbone to solve an enigma like the “falling cat” problem.

By Taylor Mitchell Brown

The Global Profile

Iceland’s Chief ‘Lava Cooler’ Is Bracing for the Next Eruption

Helgi Hjorleifsson, a firefighter, is a leader in a national experiment to steer rivers of lava away from important sites. Some called it crazy, but it worked.

By Amelia Nierenberg and Egill Bjarnason

A small pale snail oozing over the edge of a plastic container filled with other snails, some of whose shells bear a small blue paint mark, out of focus in the background.

Slowly, Slowly, ‘Darwin’s Finches of the Snail World’ Return From Near Extinction

Partula snails all but vanished from Polynesia after the arrival of a carnivorous foreign snail. But a global alliance of zoos has worked to bring them back.

By Franz Lidz

A colorful blue-and-yellow macaw perched on a tree branch.

In Ancient Peru, a Parrot Trade That Crossed the Andes

Scientists studied centuries-old bird feathers from an ancient tomb on the coast, and then traced the origins back to the Amazon.

By Alexa Robles-Gil

Trilobites

Bumblebee Queens Can Breathe Underwater

A new study offers clues as to how the insects survive flooding as they emerge from a hibernation-like phase every winter.

By Jason P. Dinh

CLIMATE CHANGE

Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle, via Associated Press

‘Dangerous’ and ‘Unprecedented’: How Bad Will This March Heat Wave Get?

Meteorologists are not mincing words in their forecasts for record-high temperatures in California and the desert Southwest.

By Erin McCann

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Trump Administration Fires New Shot in Fight Over California Clean Car Rules

A lawsuit argues that the state’s regulations would illegally force a rapid transition to electric vehicles.

By Maxine Joselow and Lisa Friedman

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HEALTH

Doctors in white coats hold a limbo stick for a patient to crawl under.

John P. Dessereau

The New Old Age

‘How Low Can You Go?’ The Shifting Guidelines for Blood Pressure Control

The number doctors use to demarcate hypertension keeps going down, a trend applauded by many experts, who point to studies linking high blood pressure and dementia.

By Paula Span

A pair of gloved hands administer a finger prick blood test.

Science Photo Library/Science Source

Get Your Cholesterol Even Lower and Start Younger, New Guideline Says

Eleven medical organizations advised changes to preventive cardiac care that it says could markedly reduce heart attacks and strokes.

By Gina Kolata

A close-up of several refrigerated bags of yellow-colored plasma in a case.

Rodrigo Arangua/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

How Safe Is Plasma Donation?

Two recent deaths tied to for-profit clinics in Canada raised concerns about the health effects of having plasma drawn as often as twice a week.

By Roni Caryn Rabin and Vjosa Isai

Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

In Talking to Parents About Vaccines, Pediatricians Navigate a Sea of Misinformation

Practitioners nationwide are striving to do what’s best for children’s health, while staying supportive in the face of mistrust and confusion.

By Apoorva Mandavilli and Maddie McGarvey