All Science
How the Chinese domesticated cats 5,300 years agoThe bones of cats who lived in a Chinese village 5,300 years ago reveal the possible path from wild feline to house cat. How does a feral beast become a pet?
China's Jade Rabbit lands on the moon, but will it play nice there?China's moon landing demonstrates the state's burgeoning technological might in space, analysis say – but what will it do with it?
NASA to grant SpaceX lease to historic launch padNASA has selected SpaceX to be the exclusive lessee of the Kennedy Center's Launch Complex 39A.
Europa beckons, but how to get there faster? Could a CubeSat with an ion drive do?Evidence of water geysers on Europa are pushing Jupiter's moon to the fore in the search for extraterrestrial life. Tiny ion-drive-powered CubeSats could get robotic missions there fast and cheap, researchers say.
NASA selects SpaceX to take over spare launch padIn good news for SpaceX, bad news for Blue Origin, NASA announced that it has selected SpaceX to begin negotiations for its spare launch pad.
Space station malfunction could give astronaut his Christmas wishAn astronaut might get what he was hoping for this Christmas, thanks to a problem in the International Space Station's cooling system.
Blue Origin loses protest in bid for NASA's launch padThough NASA has not yet said which of two competing companies will get the contested launch pad, the news appears to be good for SpaceX and its bid to edge out its competitors in two private spaceflight markets.
Does geyser discovery vault Europa to top of list in search for life?The discovery of geysers on Europa prove that Jupiter's icy moon is still active and almost certainly has a subsurface ocean of liquid water in which primitive life could survive.
Arizona meteor totally unrelated to tonight's eye-popping GeminidsThe Arizona fireball meteor rattled windows and lit up social media Tuesday night. In unrelated news, the 'best show of the year,' the Geminid meteor shower, has started and will peak Friday night.
Is your oldest sister a warty comb jelly?A paper published this week in 'Science' is revising the lowest branches on the animal kingdom's evolutionary tree, as well as upending how evolution is thought to progress.
Space station stays cool with just one pump, but 'we're somewhat vulnerable'Engineers worked Thursday to figure out why one of two cooling pumps aboard the International Space Station malfunctioned. If the problem is hardware-related, astronauts will need to retrieve a spare pump – via a spacewalk.
Before battle, male chameleons change colorWhy did the chameleon change its color? Well, all the better to intimate its rivals, a new paper reports.
- Arizona meteor: Video captures brilliant display
Arizona meteor: A huge meteor streaked across the night sky in Arizona, creating sonic booms. Scientists are now hunting for fragments.
Monitor lizards breathe like dinosaurs, say scientistsThe one-way breathing of monitor lizards may evolved earlier than previously thought, about 270 million years ago, researchers say.
Comet ISON now an ex-comet, says NASAAfter months of anticipation, Comet ISON grazed by the sun on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28). Something emerged on the far side, but NASA astronomers can now confirm: ISON is no longer a comet.
Smart phone technology boosts early warning for extreme weather, quakesResearchers are enhancing a dense network of GPS receivers with temperature, air-pressure, and motion sensors common in today's smart phones. The prototype promises precious minutes of advance warning for extreme weather, tsunamis, and earthquakes.
Meet Valkyrie, the 'superhero' robotValkyrie, a humanoid robot, is the Johnson Space Center’s submission to the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
Mars colony project launches plans for 2018 test missionMars One, a nonprofit, privately funded group aiming to land human settlers on the red planet in 2025, has contracted with two aerospace companies to study ideas for a preliminary test mission.
New orchid species discovered in volcanic 'lost world'Two new species of orchid have been discovered in the Azores, a volcanic archipelago west of Portugal, say scientists.
Curiosity rover spots key ingredients for life on MarsCuriosity rover: Drilling into outcrops and examining the sediments, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has spotted past signs of freshwater and some of the key chemical ingredients for life.
