Science News coverage from Reuters.
SpaceX on Tuesday defended the performance of one of its rockets used to launch a U.S. spy satellite that is believed to have been lost after failing to reach orbit, adding that no changes were anticipated to its upcoming launch schedule.
A U.S. spy satellite that was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX rocket on Sunday failed to reach orbit and is assumed to be a total loss, two U.S. officials briefed on the mission said on Monday.
Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai, on a mission to the International Space Station, apologized on Wednesday for saying he had grown 9 cm (3.5 inches) while in space and expressing concern about whether he'd be safe on his return to Earth.
China's Tiangong-1 space station is not out of control and does not pose a safety threat, a top Chinese spaceflight engineer said on Monday, after reports that the station was falling toward earth.
It was too good to be true. Scientists have ruled out the most exotic explanation -- an orbiting alien mega-structure -- for the behavior of a celestial oddity dubbed Tabby's Star that has been puzzling scientists with its sporadic dimming and brightening.
Ancient DNA extracted from the skull of a six-week-old baby girl whose 11,500-year-old remains were unearthed in a burial pit in central Alaska is helping scientists resolve long-standing controversies about how humans first populated the Americas.
Drinking alcohol produces a harmful chemical in the body which can lead to permanent genetic damage in the DNA of stem cells, increasing the risk of cancer developing, according to research published on Wednesday.
Israel's Space Communication Ltd, operator of the Amos satellites, said on Tuesday Nepal's Dish Media Network has contracted for more capacity on the Amos-4 satellite starting in the fourth quarter.
Iridium Communications Inc said on Wednesday its 10 satellites, launched last week by tech billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX, are functioning as expected.
Russia said on Friday it had re-established contact with Angola's first national telecoms satellite AngoSat-1.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia was analyzing its space sector after two failed satellite launches in as many months.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday the failed launch of a 2.6 billion-rouble ($44.95 million) satellite last month was due to an embarrassing programming error.
The U.S. government on Tuesday lifted a 2014 temporary ban on funding research involving the flu and other pathogens in which scientists deliberately make them more transmissible or more deadly.
A trio of U.S., Japanese and Russian astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, a NASA TV broadcast showed.
Israel's NRGene said on Tuesday it was working with a team of researchers from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands as well as commercial partners to create multi-genome mapping of potatoes.
ArianeGroup, the space-launchers joint-venture between Airbus and Safran, has passed an industrial milestone allowing it to move ahead with production of the first Ariane 6, Europe's next-generation rocket, the company said on Monday.
British scientists have created what they believe is the world's smallest Christmas card, a seasonal greeting so tiny that over 200 million of them could fit into a standard postage stamp.
A trio of U.S. and Japanese astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off from Kazakhstan on Sunday for a two-day trip to the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed.
The Pentagon acknowledged on Saturday that its long-secret UFO investigation program ended in 2012, when U.S. defense officials shifted attention and funding to other priorities.
Alphabet Inc's Google and NASA said on Thursday that advanced computer analysis identified two new planets around distant stars, including one that is part of the first star system with as many planets as Earth's solar system.