Rosetta spacecraft to give 'final kiss' to comet on crash-landing

TOULOUSE (Reuters) - The European spacecraft Rosetta will crash-land on the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and end its 12-year space odyssey on Sept. 30, France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) said on Thursday.

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Solar plane lands in Spain after three-day Atlantic crossing

SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) - An airplane powered solely by the sun landed safely in Seville in Spain early on Thursday after an almost three-day flight across the Atlantic from New York in one of the longest legs of the first ever fuel-less flight around the world.

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Bat wings inspire new breed of drone

The unique mechanical properties of bat wings could lead to a new breed of nature-inspired drone. A prototype built by researchers at the University of Southampton shows that membrane wings can have improved aerodynamic properties and fly over longer distances on less power.

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Human skin cells used in animal-free cosmetic tests

A UK-based laboratory is working to eradicate animal testing in the cosmetics industry by developing alternative methods which are not only cruelty-free but more scientifically advanced than other current tests.

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Human flights to Mars still at least 15 years off: ESA head

DARMSTADT, Germany (Reuters) - Dreaming of a trip to Mars? You'll have to wait at least 15 years for the technology to be developed, the head of the European Space Agency (ESA) said, putting doubt on claims that the journey could happen sooner.

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British astronaut Tim Peake would return to space station 'in a heartbeat'

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Britain's first official astronaut said on Tuesday he would join another trip to the International Space Station "in a heartbeat" and would love to explore the moon.

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India launches 20 satellites at one go; most to serve U.S. customers

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India successfully launched 20 satellites in a single mission on Wednesday, with most of them set to serve international customers as the South Asian country pursues a bigger share of the $300 billion global space industry.

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Europe's robots to become 'electronic persons' under draft plan

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Europe's growing army of robot workers could be classed as "electronic persons" and their owners liable to paying social security for them if the European Union adopts a draft plan to address the realities of a new industrial revolution.

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Solar plane takes on Atlantic as part of round-the-world bid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An airplane powered solely by energy from the sun headed across the Atlantic early on Monday, on one of the longest legs of the first-ever flight around the globe without using a drop of fuel.

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Paul Allen's space company nears debut of world's biggest plane

MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) - A space launch company bankrolled by Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen intends to compete with space entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts by launching satellites into orbit from the world’s biggest airplane.

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Capsule carrying space station crew lands in Kazakhstan: NASA TV

(Reuters) - A Soyuz capsule carrying a Russian, an American and a Briton from the International Space Station made a parachute landing on the steppe near the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan on Saturday, NASA television reported.

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Satellite tags aim to shed light on endangered hawksbill sea turtle migration

June 16 (Reuters) - Scientists are tagging hawksbill sea turtles in a key South Pacific breeding ground, hoping that information fed to satellites will help them better understand the endangered species' nesting, feeding and migration patterns.

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Satellite tags aim to shed light on endangered hawksbill sea turtle migration

June 16 (Reuters) - Scientists are tagging hawksbill sea turtles in a key South Pacific breeding ground, hoping that information fed to satellites will help them better understand the endangered species' nesting, feeding and migration patterns.

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NASA to set fire in space for science, safety

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - An unmanned cargo ship pulled away from the International Space Station on Tuesday to stage the first of three planned NASA experiments on how big fires grow in space, an important test for astronaut safety.

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Einstein 2.0: gravitational waves detected for a second time

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.,  (Reuters) - The ground-breaking detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space and time postulated by Albert Einstein 100 years ago, that was announced in February was no fluke. Scientists said on Wednesday that they have spotted them for a second time.

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From green slime to jet fuel: algae offers airlines a cleaner future

OTTOBRUN, Germany (Reuters) - As airlines struggle to find cleaner ways to power jets and with an industry-wide meeting on CO2 emissions just months away, scientists are busy growing algae in vast open tanks at an Airbus site at Ottobrun, near Munich.

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Scientists use climate, population changes to predict diseases

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists say they have developed a model that can predict outbreaks of zoonotic diseases – those such as Ebola and Zika that jump from animals to humans – based on changes in climate.

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Asymmetric molecule, key to life, detected in space for 1st time

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Scientists for the first time have found a complex organic molecule in space that bears the same asymmetric structure as molecules that are key to life on Earth.

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Stegosaurus had bite like a sheep

By Matthew Stock Dinosaur experts have conducted the first detailed study of the Stegosaurus skull and found that it had a more powerful bite than its tiny, peg-shaped, teeth suggested.

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Solar plane lands in New York City during bid to circle the globe

(Reuters) - A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said.

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The bright side: global 'light pollution' obscures starry nights

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Vincent van Gogh peered out the window of the Saint-Paul asylum at the nighttime sky in Saint-Rémy in 1889, he saw the brilliant light of innumerable stars over southern France that inspired his evocative painting "The Starry Night."

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In mapping eclipses, world's first computer maybe also told fortunes

ATHENS (Reuters) - A 2,000-year-old astronomical calculator used by ancient Greeks to chart the movement of the sun, moon and planets may also have had another purpose - fortune telling, say researchers.

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U.S. regulator says too many drugmakers chasing same cancer strategy

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new type of cancer drug that takes the brakes off the body's immune system has given drugmakers some remarkable wins against the deadly disease, but a top U.S. regulator says too many companies are focused on the same approach.

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Private company wants U.S. clearance to fly to the moon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government agencies are working on temporary rules to allow a private company to land a spacecraft on the moon next year, while Congress weighs a more permanent legal framework to govern future commercial missions to the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond Earth's orbit, officials said.

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European ruling on olive tree cull sparks fear in Italy

ROME (Reuters) - European countries can be forced to cull olive trees to stop the spread of a deadly bacterium, the European Union ruled on Thursday, sparking concern in a grove-dotted region of Italy.

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First element discovered in Asia named 'nihonium', after Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese scientists behind the discovery of element 113, the first atomic element found in Asia - indeed, the first found outside Europe or the United States - have dubbed it "nihonium" after the Japanese-language name for their country.

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UK scientists find new 3-parent IVF technique safe in lab tests

LONDON (Reuters) - A study of a new 3-parent IVF technique designed to reduce the risk of mothers passing hereditary diseases to their babies has found it is likely to work well and lead to normal pregnancies, British scientists said.

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New fossils may settle debate over 'Hobbit' people's ancestry

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fossils unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores may resolve one of the most intriguing mysteries in anthropology: the ancestry of the extraordinary diminutive human species dubbed the "Hobbit."Scientists on Wednesday described bone fragments and teeth about 700,000 years old retrieved from an ancient river bed that appear to belong to the extinct Hobbit species, previously known only from fossils and stone tools from a Flores cave ranging from 190,000 to 50,000 years

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India's colonial-era monsoon forecasting to get high-tech makeover

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's forecasting of the monsoon - the crop-nourishing seasonal rains that are the lifeblood for farmers in the country of 1.3 billion people - is getting a high-tech makeover.

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Electric eels can kill horses, new research confirms

MIAMI (Reuters) - Experiments at Vanderbilt University have proven a 200-year-old observation that electric eels can leap out of water and shock animals to death, a claim originally made by 19th century biologist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt.

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Astronauts get first look inside space station's new inflatable module

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Monday floated inside an experimental inflatable module that will test a less expensive and potentially safer option for housing crews during long stays in space, NASA said.

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Russia delays launch to space outpost to ensure safety of new spaceship

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The launch of the next three-man crew to the International Space Station has been postponed until July 7 from June 24 in order to ensure the safety of the first flight of their new "Soyuz-MS" spaceship, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Monday.

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Astronomers say universe expanding faster than predicted

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The universe is expanding faster than previously believed, a surprising discovery that could test part of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, a pillar of cosmology that has withstood challenges for a century.

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Luxembourg sets aside 200 million euros to fund space mining ventures

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Luxembourg on Friday upped its bid to be a leader in the nascent space mining industry by setting aside 200 million euros ($223 million) to fund initiatives aimed at bringing back rare minerals from space.

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How dogs became man's best friend - twice over

LONDON (Reuters) - Ancient humans made dogs their best friend not once but twice, by domesticating two separate populations of wolves thousands of miles apart in Europe and Asia.

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Tasmanian devil returns to San Diego Zoo after pacemaker surgery

(Reuters) - A Tasmanian devil named Nick is back in his exhibit area at the San Diego Zoo after receiving a pacemaker to make his heartbeat normal.

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Scientists propose project to build synthetic human genome

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of scientists on Thursday proposed an ambitious project to create a synthetic human genome, or genetic blueprint, in an endeavor that is bound to raise concerns over the extent to which human life can or should be engineered.

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Genes of slain Cincinnati gorilla to live on

(Reuters) - After shooting dead a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm, raising hopes among distraught fans that Harambe could sire offspring even in death.

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Archaeologists vs. robbers in Israel's race to find ancient scrolls

TZEELIM VALLEY, Israel (Reuters) - The disposable paper face masks offer little protection from the clouds of dust that fill the cliffside cave where Israeli archaeologists are wrapping up the largest excavation in the Judean desert of the past half-century.

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New incentives needed to develop antibiotics to fight superbugs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Drugmakers are renewing efforts to develop medicines to fight emerging antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but creating new classes of drugs on the scale needed is unlikely to happen without new financial incentives to make the effort worth the investment, companies and industry experts said.

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