When we look up at the night sky, it’s easy to feel as though the stars we see have always been, and always will be, there. But just like ourselves, stars are born and die.

Scientists have captured the early death throes of supernovae for the first time and found that the universe's benchmark explosions are much more varied than expected.

Australian scientists are in the hunt for the last missing piece of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, gravitational waves, as the Advanced LIGO Project in the United States comes on line.