Joanna Thompson

Students at Carnegie Mellon University are sending America's first lunar rover to the moon this May, beating NASA to the punch by about a year.

The two closest black holes to Earth, named Gaia BH1 and BH2, may be part of a rare class of black holes never seen before, new research suggests.

Scientists have observed that some of Neptune's Trojan asteroids are deep red, possibly revealing what asteroids may have been like in the early days of the solar system.

Can a person or object exposed to high radioactivity just take a shower with soap and water, or is more needed for decontamination?

Sand is difficult to walk or run across. But why?

Fossils of a 70 million-year-old platypus relative called Patagorhynchus pascuali found in South America show that egg-laying mammals evolved on more than one continent.

Not all asteroids are planet-killers — most are tiny and others are huge. So what are the largest and smallest asteroids in the solar system?

Sea dragon dads and octopus moms are the extreme marine parents we need, winning photos show.

Most biologists will answer confidently when asked "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" but the answer may depend on what type of egg you're talking about.

Did Thomas Crapper actually create your commode?

Mental fuzziness can be frustrating and can be caused by lack of sleep or even an underlying illness.

In a first, planetary geologists describe an active mantle plume on the surface of Mars.

For the first time, clitorises have been documented in nine different species of snakes from four families.

Clouds look light and fluffy, but they're surprisingly heavy.

Researchers have isolated viable microbes from melting permafrost after tens of thousands of years. But don't worry; they infect only amoebas.

Does anyone have sovereignty over the moon? And can anyone buy it?

Paleontologists in China have examined the remarkable gut remnants of a birdlike dinosaur that lived more than 100 million years ago.

Who actually wore togas, and what were they for?

Images and footage of the black-naped pheasant-pigeon were recently captured by scientists. This is the first documented sighting of the elusive bird since 1882.

Extremely detailed Cambrian fossils show that enigmatic skeleton tubes belonged to ancient ancestors of modern jellyfish.

New research reveals exactly how inbred the Devils Hole pupfish is.

A 54-year-old woman in Indonesia was killed and eaten by a massive python

If humans had tails, what would they be like, and how would we use them?

Many fairytales have an evil stepmother who is determined to ruin the lives of her stepchildren. But what are the roots of this age-old trope?