Why freshwater organisms survived the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs

An asteroid impact caused the extinction of most dinosaurs and half of ocean-dwelling species. Meanwhile, life in inland freshwater ecosystems largely survived. Why?

Eye-tracking could outshine passwords

A collaborative team has developed a new biometric authentication technique that identifies people based on their eye movements. This new technique could one day replace online passwords if made user-friendly.

NASA Hubble finds new Neptune moon

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a new moon orbiting the distant blue-green planet Neptune, the 14th known to be circling the giant planet.

Video: Zero gravity coffee cup

Drinking coffee in space is surprisingly tricky.

Phytoplankton like to party, too

Tiny ocean plants use turbulence for travel to social gatherings.

Researchers estimate over two million deaths annually from air pollution

Over two million deaths occur each year as a direct result of human-caused outdoor air pollution, a new study has found.

Team cracks RNA code, finds possible new cause of autism

Many human diseases are due to defects in the RNA code. Cracking the code is crucial to creating new treatments for many conditions.

Antarctic glacier calves iceberg one-fourth size of Rhode Island

This week a European Earth-observing satellite confirmed that a large iceberg broke off of Pine Island Glacier, one of Antarctica's largest and fastest moving ice streams.

Spacecraft en route to Pluto spots its largest moon

NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has spotted Pluto’s Texas-sized, ice-covered moon Charon for the first time.

As the sun moves through space …

The IBEX spacecraft has now mapped the structure of our solar system's comet-like tail. Photos in this post can help you picture how our sun carries you through space.