Astronomy and astrophysics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Experiments have revealed that the interaction between a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a molten planet leads to high levels of water production. Through this processplanets could be enriched with water during their formationaltering their chemistryevolution andpossiblyhabitability.

Highlights from News & Views published in 2025.

This yearthe latest in an annual series of Fast Radio Burst conferences was held as a fully hybrid experience from 7–11 July at McGill University in MontrealQuebecCanada. Marking ten years since the first repeating fast radio burst was discoveredmore than 200 scientists at FRB 2025 discussed the latest results in the field and charted a course for future experiments.

Spacetime fluctuations have been predicted by a plethora of semiclassical and quantum models of gravity. Herethe authors discuss how characteristic signatures of classes of such spacetime fluctuations can be identified in laser interferometers.

Synergies between JWST and ALMA are providing a multiwavelength view of galaxiesactive galactic nuclei and the interstellar medium at high redshifts. This Review provides an overview of results so far and identifies areas for future development.

ALMA has captured exquisitely detailed images of bowshock shells in the outflow of an outbursting protostar. These provide important insights into the variable nature of the ejections from protostarswhich play a key role in star and planet formation.

Event generators are used to simulate and describe hadronic collisions in accelerator experimentsbut often struggle to describe data from astroparticle experiments that probe hadronic collisions at extreme energies. This Review highlights the complementarity between accelerator and astroparticle experiments that can be exploitedto gain new insights into the nature of hadronic collisions and increase model accuracy across both domains.

Reported detections of gases in exoplanet atmospheresincluding claims of biosignatures on K2-18 bdisappear when broader models are testedrevealing that such detections often reflect modelling limits rather than real signals.

Accelerated recombination due to primordial magnetic fields presents a potential resolution to the Hubble tension. Such fields are found to be non-zero with moderate significance based on multiple combinations of cosmological datasets.

It’s a mystery why TOI-561 b’s blanket of gases hasn’t boiled off.

From astrophysics to geneticsclimate change to materials science — the News & Views team talk about some of their science highlights of 2025.

The rise of AI scientistsmissions to explore the moons of Earth and Mars and a massive ocean-floor drill are among the developments set to shape research in 2026.

Experiments have revealed that the interaction between a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a molten planet leads to high levels of water production. Through this processplanets could be enriched with water during their formationaltering their chemistryevolution andpossiblyhabitability.

The inclusion of neurodivergent astronomers in the community is often overlookedperhaps because neurodiversity is inherently difficult to generalize. In this issuesix neurodivergent researchers recount their experiences and suggest how astronomy could be made more accessible to everyone.