Two rocks that crashed to Earth from space in 1998 are the 1st meteorites found to contain both liquid water and a mix of complex organic compounds such as hydrocarbons and amino acids.
A powerful earthquake struck 174 miles (280 km) southeast of Kodiak, Alaska, early on January 23. Tsunami watches or warnings were issued - later canceled - for western North America and Hawaii.
On January 21, 1968, in what came to be known as the Thule incident, a U.S. jet carrying 4 nuclear bombs crashed in Greenland, spreading radioactive wreckage across 3 square miles of a frozen fjord.
NASA says 2nd-warmest year on record. NOAA says 3rd-warmest. Their methodologies differ slightly, but - by both standards - the 2017 results make the past 4 years the hottest yet recorded.
In the 19th century, passenger pigeons were so numerous that hunters competed to shoot as many as possible. But the last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo over 100 years ago. How did it all go so wrong?
The most complete genome yet for a truly unique marsupial - the Tasmanian tiger - suggests that, if the tigers hadn't been hunted to extinction, they might still have struggled to survive.