Swarms of distant tremors occur when vibrations from a big quake pass over faults—a common phenomenon that may have occurred during the recent China quake, experts say.
The craft is now the first to successfully land near a Martian pole and should soon begin collecting samples to determine whether the red planet was once habitable.
The discovery doubles the depth at which life is known to exist in ocean sediments—and may be encouraging news for the search for life on other planets.
Waters acidic enough to corrode seashells are already raking shores in northern California, reveals a new study of the effects of carbon emissions on the oceans.
The formation of an Idaho canyon thousands of years ago, along with recent discoveries of ancient hot springs and geysers on Mars, has formed a portrait of a wetter, more violent red planet.
Light from distant quasars has revealed that almost half of the matter astronomers hadn't been able to account for is clustered around wispy ropes spanning the space between galaxies.
An x-ray flash that signals the start of a stellar explosion could help astronomers predict supernovae and could boost the search for exotic phantom particles and ripples in space-time.
As the death toll soared past 40,000, state media reported that radioactive materials from hospitals, factories, or research labs buried by debris have been recovered or cordoned off.
Hurricanes will occur less frequently but be slightly wetter and stronger, predicts the latest finding in the contentious debate over global warming and hurricanes.
