As weather warms up off the coast of France, blooms of plankton have once again begun to form, creating a beautiful, multicolored swirl visible from space.NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites acquired these images of the colorful blooms on April 20 and May 4, according to  the NASA Earth Observatory. On the later date, a noticeably larger bloom occurred, fueled by nutrient ru...    

A largely forgettable rainfall provoked a growth in vegetation that, followed by a hot, near-record dry period, simply resulted in more fuel for potential wildfires.When it comes to Southern California's increasingly perilous fire season, you can blame both the lack of rain and the little rain we did have.

The appeal of owning your own property — and all the private goods that came with it — may have convinced nomadic humans to settle down and take up farming. So says a new study that tried to puzzle out why early farmers bothered with agriculture.

Douglas Trumbull's new project would use fast frame rates, huge screens, 4K digital for an "immersive" experience. Are audiences ready?

Chris Hadfield has conquered space. Now he's conquering the Internet, too.

Neuroscientist Henry Markram says he can build a supercomputer replica of the human brain. Now he has $1.3 billion to prove it.

Hospitals hoping to attract patients and build goodwill are teaming up with medical-screening companies to promote tests they say might prevent deadly strokes or heart disease. What their promotions don’t say is that an influential government panel recommends against many of the tests for people without symptoms or risk factors.

I detest household bugs. Abhor them. There isn’t a word strong enough to describe how I feel about bugs in my home. That hatred provokes guilt, because I fancy myself an environmentalist. As such, I’m supposed to feel a kinship with all creatures. We’re connected in a circle of life, a colorful tapestry, a delicate web of interdependence.

Bodily waste is widely considered a topic not to be discussed in polite company; it’s something to be flushed and forgotten. But a new book argues that waste, in all its human and animal forms, is worth getting to know intimately

Bacteria that live in the gut have been used to reverse obesity and Type-2 diabetes, animal studies show.

Vast reserves of shale oil is set to make the US an exporter rather than a leading importer, delivering a blow to Middle East oil producers that can expect to see demand fall, an International Energy Agency report observes.

The Sun has unleashed the most powerful eruption - a solar flare - of 2013 so far.

If Mercury was an orange, the juicy bit would all be dense metallic core, while planets further out would be peaches with pit-like cores – here's why    

Big data might one day allow us to project how conflicts will develop, but choosing whether and how to intervene will always be difficult    

New findings about the properties of fossil amber could shed light on glass and glass-like materials.