Most Popular Science News

Peering beneath the ice at the north pole of Mars has now revealed the red planet may be surprisingly colder than was thought.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers are baffled after finding an exotic type of star called a pulsar apparently locked in an elongated orbit around a star much like the sun -- an arrangement defying what had been known about such objects.

The universe is twice as bright as it appears, astronomers now suggest.

TOKYO - A Japanese man who developed the world's smallest helicopter will take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci in tribute to the Renaissance genius' original idea.

WASHINGTON - While carbon dioxide has been getting lots of publicity in climate change, reactive forms of nitrogen are also building up in the environment, scientists warn.

WASHINGTON - The El Nino phenomenon that has puzzled climate scientists in recent decades may have assisted the first trip around the world nearly 500 years ago.

The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province, leveling buildings and taking tens of thousands of lives, might not have wrought such destruction in the United States, experts say.

LONDON (AFP) - The world's wildlife populations have reduced by around a quarter since the 1970s, according to a major report published Friday by the WWF conservation organization.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Exposure in the womb to common chemicals used to make everything from plastic bottles to pizza box liners may program a person to become obese later in life, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

This week, the giant planet Jupiter, poised against the stars of Sagittarius, looms up into view low in the southeast in the middle of the night. It rises around 11:30 p.m. local daylight time, and is best seen in telescopes just before morning twilight, when it's fairly high in the south or southeast. A medium-size telescope of high quality on a night of good seeing will show the disk of this creamy white giant richly, though subtly patterned.

Peering beneath the ice at the north pole of Mars has now revealed the red planet may be surprisingly colder than was thought.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers are baffled after finding an exotic type of star called a pulsar apparently locked in an elongated orbit around a star much like the sun -- an arrangement defying what had been known about such objects.

The universe is twice as bright as it appears, astronomers now suggest.

WASHINGTON - While carbon dioxide has been getting lots of publicity in climate change, reactive forms of nitrogen are also building up in the environment, scientists warn.

The Allied airmen and women of World War II were certainly brave and skilled in battle, but even they couldn't win the war on their own.

The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province, leveling buildings and taking tens of thousands of lives, might not have wrought such destruction in the United States, experts say.

WASHINGTON - The El Nino phenomenon that has puzzled climate scientists in recent decades may have assisted the first trip around the world nearly 500 years ago.

TOKYO - A Japanese man who developed the world's smallest helicopter will take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci in tribute to the Renaissance genius' original idea.

This week, the giant planet Jupiter, poised against the stars of Sagittarius, looms up into view low in the southeast in the middle of the night. It rises around 11:30 p.m. local daylight time, and is best seen in telescopes just before morning twilight, when it's fairly high in the south or southeast. A medium-size telescope of high quality on a night of good seeing will show the disk of this creamy white giant richly, though subtly patterned.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Chaiten volcano groaned, rumbled and shuddered on Thursday, raising new concerns among authorities, as lightning bolts pierced the huge clouds of hot ash hovering ominously above its crater.

PARIS - Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France's Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known.

The universe is twice as bright as it appears, astronomers now suggest.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers are baffled after finding an exotic type of star called a pulsar apparently locked in an elongated orbit around a star much like the sun -- an arrangement defying what had been known about such objects.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Chaiten volcano groaned, rumbled and shuddered on Thursday, raising new concerns among authorities, as lightning bolts pierced the huge clouds of hot ash hovering ominously above its crater.

WASHINGTON — With just 12 days to go until its Mars arrival, NASA's Phoenix lander is functioning well and on course to be the first mission to land in the frigid, arctic regions of the red planet, NASA officials said today.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander aims to not flame out when it descends to the arctic surface of the red planet in less than two weeks.

TOKYO - A Japanese man who developed the world's smallest helicopter will take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci in tribute to the Renaissance genius' original idea.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An experimental gene therapy treatment appears to have helped eight children with a rare and incurable neurological disorder, although it may have been responsible for the death of one, researchers reported on Tuesday.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Volcanic activity at New Zealand's Mount Ruapehu is increasing and an eruption could occur at any time, scientists warned on Tuesday. The volcano in central North Island, famed as a location in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, last erupted on September 25 2007, spitting 2 meter (6 feet) boulders distances of up to 2 km (1.5 miles).

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US space probe sent to Mars to dig for signs of life is nearing the end of its nine-month voyage and should touch down on the Red Planet on schedule, NASA said Tuesday.