Science | featured news

The Cassini Solstice mission has discovered what appears to be a miniature version of the Nile River on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. In comparison, the Nile is 4,132 miles long. The 250-mile long feature -- from 'headwaters' to a large sea -- is the longest extraterrestrial river ever to be discovered and imaged to such high resolution.

Babies and pets have been named in honor of President Obama -- and now a dinosaur. Researchers at Yale University have dubbed a newly discovered species of dinosaur -- or, if you prefer, a big lizard -- Obamadon gracilis, citing the president's broad smile, Reuters reports.

Scientists in California investigate why at least several hundred dead squid are washing ashore.

A giant asteroid will make a flyby of Earth over the next few days, and armchair astronomers can watch the action live on their computers.

It sounds like the plot of a bad Bruce Willis movie, but some experts are saying it should be a reality. In order to prepare for massive asteroids that could aim for Earth in the future, researchers should ram a spaceship into a real asteroid to see if the space rock would shift course, scientists say.

It may not look like a character from the Transformer franchise, but a tiny robot made in the US is able to change shape. Built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it uses magnets to mimic molecules that fold themselves into complex shapes.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is traveling through a previously unknown region of deep space as it heads out of our solar system, which might happen soon, scientists reported Monday. Voyage and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched in 1977 and will become the first man-made objects to exit our celestial neighborhood -- relatively soon.

Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: Although NASA's Curiosity rover hasn't yet confirmed the detection of organic compounds on Mars, it's already seeing that the Red Planet's soil contains complex chemicals, including perchlorate.

The Supreme Court will soon decide whether companies can patent human genes, a decision that could reshape the future of medical care in the United States.

Just in time for Christmas, scientists have confirmed a vast amount of ice at the north pole - on Mercury, the closest planet to the sun....