Australia's tectonic speed leaves cartographers behind

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia, which rides on the world's fastest-moving continental tectonic plate, is heading north so quickly that map co-ordinates are now out by as much as 1.5 meters (4.9 feet), say geoscientists.

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Great Red Spot storm heating Jupiter's atmosphere, study shows

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Scientists have long wondered why Jupiter's upper atmosphere has temperatures similar to those of Earth, even though the biggest planet in the solar system is five times farther away from the sun.

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New crop of robots to vie for space in the operating room

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Even though many doctors see need for improvement, surgical robots are poised for big gains in operating rooms around the world.

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Healthy clones: Dolly the sheep's heirs reach ripe old age

LONDON (Reuters) - The heirs of Dolly the sheep are enjoying a healthy old age, proving cloned animals can live normal lives and offering reassurance to scientists hoping to use cloned cells in medicine.

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Scientist Brian Cox holds summer master class in London for kids

(Reuters) - British physics professor Brian Cox taught students at St. Paul's Way Trust School in London on Tuesday how to create fire with methane gas.

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Scientists find potential new antibiotic, right under their noses

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists in Germany have discovered a bacteria hiding out in peoples' noses that produces an antibiotic compound that can kill several dangerous pathogens, including the superbug MRSA.

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Meter-wide dinosaur print, one of largest ever, found in Bolivia

SUCRE, Bolivia (Reuters) - A footprint measuring over a meter wide that was made by a meat-eating predator some 80 million years ago has been discovered in Bolivia, one of the largest of its kind ever found.

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Belgian scientists make novel water-from-urine machine

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A team of scientists at a Belgian university say they have created a machine that turns urine into drinkable water and fertilizer using solar energy, a technique which could be applied in rural areas and developing countries.

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Solar plane circles globe in first for clean energy

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - A solar-powered aircraft successfully completed the first fuel-free flight around the world on Tuesday, returning to Abu Dhabi after an epic 16-month voyage that demonstrated the potential of renewable energy.

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Mind over gray matter: new map lays out brain's cerebral cortex

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Neuroscientists acting as cartographers of the human mind have devised the most comprehensive map ever made of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions such as abstract thought, language and memory.

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China completes world's largest amphibious aircraft: Xinhua

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has completed production of the world's largest amphibious aircraft after seven years of work, which it plans to use to perform marine rescue missions and fight forest fires, the Xinhua news agency reported.

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Newly developed wheel converts any bicycle into an electric vehicle

(Reuters) - Right off the bat, Michael Burtov said he and his team at technology startup GeoOrbital did not re-invent the wheel.

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Stunning aurora footage captured from ISS

NASA astronaut Jeff Williams shared a stunning aurora display on Sunday as he passed over the Earth.

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Fish can recognise human faces, study finds

Scientists have shown for the first time how a species of tropical fish can distinguish between human faces. The archerfish used in experiments could demonstrate the ability to a high degree of accuracy; despite lacking the crucial neocortex part of the brain which other animals use for sophisticated visual recognition.

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SpaceX rocket lifts off on cargo run, then lands at launch site

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - An unmanned SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida early on Monday to send a cargo ship to the International Space Station, then turned around and landed itself back at the launch site.

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NASA's new mission: improving food security in West Africa

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A drive by NASA to stream climate data to West African nations using its earth-observing satellites could boost crop production in a region hit hard by climate change, experts say.

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U.N. tombstone listing celebrated as rare joint success in Balkans

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A World Heritage listing for 70,000 medieval tombstones spread across four countries that emerged from Yugoslavia's bloody break up in the 1990s was praised on Monday as a rare example of successful cooperation between the former foes.

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SpaceX to try again to send docking ring for space taxis to station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX will make a second attempt on Monday to deliver one of two docking rings to the International Space Station, a crucial step in enabling U.S. commercial space taxis to ferry astronauts to the orbiting lab, NASA said on Sunday.

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Boeing aims for supersonics and Mars at outset of second century

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The Boeing Co marked its centennial on Friday with plans to sharpen its focus on innovation, including ambitious projects for supersonic commercial flight and a rocket that could carry humans to other planets.

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Lucky bug eluded eternal entombment in 50 million-year-old amber

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A chunk of amber found along the Baltic Sea in Russia provides evidence roughly 50 million years old of an extremely fortunate bug.

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For the first time, scientists to sequence genes in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Given her background in researching some of the deadliest pathogens on Earth, including Ebola, colleagues of newly arrived astronaut Kate Rubins had expected her to want to do "crazy science fiction" on the International Space Station.

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Solar plane lands in Egypt on penultimate leg of world tour

CAIRO (Reuters) - An airplane powered by energy from the sun arrived on Wednesday in Egypt, the penultimate stop on the first fuel-free flight around the globe.

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Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defense

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. missile defense system to counter attacks from rogue states like North Korea has no proven capability to protect the United States and is not on a credible path to achieve that goal, a science advocacy group said on Thursday.

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Fearsome Argentine dinosaur had pitifully puny arms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A newly discovered meat-eating dinosaur that prowled Argentina 90 million years ago would have had a hard time using strong-arm tactics against its prey. That's because the beast, though a fearsome hunter, possessed a pitifully puny pair of arms.

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Zoo aims to help chimps hang on to their wild side

ATHERSTONE, England (Reuters) - Scientists and animal keepers at a zoo in England are hoping to encourage chimpanzees in captivity to behave more like they would in the wild thanks to a new computer tool that helps to redesign enclosures and monitor results.

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Multinational crew blasts off for space station

(Reuters) - A three-member multinational crew blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan on Thursday for a two-day trip to the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

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Astronomers spy giant planet, three stars in odd celestial ballet

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronomers have discovered a planet unlike any other ever found, one that loops widely around one star that is locked in a gravitational embrace with two others in a triple-star system, creating a curious celestial ballet.

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NASA's Juno spacecraft loops into orbit around Jupiter

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA's Juno spacecraft capped a five-year journey to Jupiter late Monday with a do-or-die engine burn to sling itself into orbit, setting the stage for a 20-month dance around the biggest planet in the solar system to learn how and where it formed.

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White House proposes measures to speed genomic test development

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House announced on Wednesday measures aimed at advancing President Barack Obama's precision medicine initiative, including plans to speed the development of tests used to identify genetic mutations and guide medical treatment.

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Weight check for first penguin born through artificial insemination

OSAKA, Japan - The world's first penguin conceived through artificial insemination tipped the scales at a healthy 1,210 grams (2.6 lbs) on Wednesday in Japan, where scientists have been working for six years to develop technology to preserve the species.

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Physics prepares to feast on collider data, seeking dark universe

GENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists at Europe's physics research center CERN are preparing to unwrap the biggest trove of data yet from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), three years after they confirmed the existence of the elusive Higgs boson.

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NASA space probe to lift the veil on Jupiter

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA's Juno spacecraft hurtled closer toward Jupiter on Friday headed for a July 4 leap into polar orbit around the solar system's largest planet to analyze how it formed and helped set the stage for life on Earth.

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E.T. phone home: China eyes hunt for alien life with giant telescope

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Sunday hoisted the final piece into position on what will be the world's largest radio telescope, which it will use to explore space and help in the hunt for extraterrestrial life, state media said.

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Airbus, Safran finalize space launchers merger

PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Group and Safran pledged on Thursday to make Europe competitive in the face of U.S. low-cost rival SpaceX as they completed a deal to merge their space launcher activities.

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