Earth ABCs from space

HNY - Happy New Year! All 26 letters of the alphabet, spelled out in Earth's features as seen from orbit.

Why does the new year begin on January 1?

New Year's Day is a civil event. Its date isn't precisely fixed by any natural seasonal marker.

Giant squid surfaces in Japanese harbor

Rare encounter with a giant squid. First one caught on camera was in 2012.

Dark skies disappearing

Earth's night skies are lighter, thanks to towns, cities and industrial complexes. How that affects astronomy ... as well as birds, insects and people.

NASA suspends 2016 launch of InSight Mars mission

NASA has called off the planned March 2016 launch of the InSight mission to Mars, following failure to repair a leaky instrument in the science payload.

Science fireplace

Warm up your holidays with this crackling science fireplace. It takes about an hour for the whole log to burn.

Awesome Falcon 9 landing in Florida

Don't miss the video of last night's first-time-ever successful landing of Space X's Falcon 9 rocket. Congrats to Elon Musk and the team at Space X!

Lifeform of the week: Mistletoe

Mistletoe makes merry at its host's expense.

Has LHC found revolutionary new particle? Maybe.

Large Hadron Collider researchers see tantalizing hints of a new particle that could revolutionize physics.

November 2015 warmest on record

November was a whopping 1.75°F (0.97°C) above 20th century average. Also, hottest January-November in the 136-year NOAA record.

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