The nature of dark energy—the mysterious force causing the universe to expand at an ever-increasing speed—is one of science’s biggest puzzles.

In the rolling foothills of central New Mexico’s Chupadera Mountains, groundwater seeps through volcanic gravel, forming a shallow spring stream where a tiny snail makes its home. The Chupadera springsnail’s conical, translucent shell is no bigger than a poppy seed; the animal scrapes algae and microscopic organisms off rocks with a toothlike structure at the end of its snout. Twenty-seven years after it was originally designated a candidate for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, the snail officially became protected on Aug. 12.

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but Virgin Galactic’s new partnership to mine asteroids in space might be less far-fetched than it seems.

In this year’s primaries, 75 percent of registered voters didn’t show up at the polls. Here’s an unscientific breakdown of their reasons why.

On New Mexico chicks- More than just Hep C!

On a windswept hill in Albuquerque’s south valley, rows of metallic blue solar panels gleam beside a humming control center. The energy they capture from the sun’s rays goes into orange containers stacked with special lead batteries that store the energy for use after the sun goes down.

Four years, four schools, one location. That’s the promotional tagline for Santa Fe Community College’s proposed Higher Education Center, which will allow students to earn bachelor’s degrees without leaving Santa Fe. There’s only one catch: For months, SFCC has been blocked from actually building the center—and if the state has its way, the center may never be built at all.

In the Democratic primary race for 1st Judicial District Attorney, challenger Lloyd Drager has made much of the “defense attorney” background of incumbent Angela “Spence” Pacheco’s administration. Whether it’s due to a shift in the office’s philosophy or not, court statistics from Pacheco’s administration compared to that of her predecessor Henry Valdez do show a marked decrease in filing of felony cases overall, with a particular decline in prosecution of sexual assault and DWI crimes.

As the projected costs for a mysterious “ghost town” skyrocket, questions about the company’s financials, size and seemingly vague, unrealistic business plans pile up.

On May 15, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission voted to grant a protest, lodged by a branch of the federal Department of Energy, that questions whether New Mexico Gas Company is adequately prepared for another weather event like last winter’s deep freeze—and whether it could have prevented the major service interruptions that devastated much of the state last year.