Most near-Earth-sized planets travel around their host stars on nearly circular orbits, and the more small planets there are orbiting close to a star, the more nearly circular their orbits are. These are just two of many findings based on a major new analysis of data from NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope that focused on detailing exoplanet — planets beyond our solar system — characteristics. The new catalog includes almost 4,400 planets and strong planet candidates, which are still awaiting confirmation, and includes more than 700 systems with multiple planets.

Jason Steffen is a physics professor at UNLV, and formerly at Northwestern. He came up with a method for boarding airplanes efficiently but it hasn't been adopted by an airline. Still, with United Airlines new boarding scheme, the whole concept is fascinating.

Astrophysicist Jason Steffen devised a better method of getting humans on a plane

Is there a better way to board airplanes? As the busy holiday travel season approaches, one astrophysicist says he’s cracked the code, discovering a more efficient boarding process for airlines.

Five years after the active life of the Kepler space telescope ended, scientists have discovered a new solar system that includes at least seven planets in the massive amount of data collected by the telescope.

We live in an age of exoplanet discovery. One thing we’ve learned is not to be surprised by the kinds of exoplanets we keep discovering. We’ve discovered planets where it might rain glass or even iron, planets that are the rocky core remnants of gas giants stripped of their atmospheres, and drifting rogue planets untethered to any star.

Jason Steffen has spent his career trying to crack the deepest mysteries of the Earth. He's an astrophysicist who studies exoplanets orbiting distant stars, dark matter and gravitation. In his spare time he also tackles another impenetrable riddle of the galaxy.

One of America’s largest airlines is changing its boarding process to make it faster. It could be even faster.

Other researchers who collaborated on the research include: Jason F. Rowe at Bishops University in Canada, Eric Ford at Penn State, Daniel C. Fabrycky at the University of Chicago, Darin Ragozzine at Brigham Young University and Jason H. Steffen at the University of Nevada Las Vegas

United Airlines is re-introducing its WILMA window-to-aisle boarding process, which the airline says saves an average of two minutes per flight. This is not an insignificant savings. Ground time costs airlines an estimated $100 a minute. A $200 savings per flight, multiplied over the 4,900 daily flights the airline operates, means nearly $1 million in daily savings.

United Airlines will start boarding passengers in economy class with window seats first starting next week, a move designed to reduce the time planes spend sitting on the ground.

United Airlines will start boarding passengers in economy class with window seats first starting next week, a move designed to reduce the time planes spend sitting on the ground.