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The Bullpen

Dana Liebelson

CHART: 40 years later, Roe v. Wade is still under siege

Dana Liebelson

CHART: 40 years later, Roe v. Wade is still under siege

Edward Morrissey

Can the 113th Congress get anything done?

Matt K. Lewis

In four years, we'll be inaugurating President Marco Rubio

Paul Brandus

Why the GOP should embrace Obama

A composite image of NASA's Mars rover shows Curiosity extending its robotic arm for the first time, on Aug. 20.

Will the Curiosity rover ever come back to Earth?

October 25, 2012, at 12:20 PM

NASA hopes that when humans set foot on Mars, they'll be able to bring the beloved rover home

Cooking is one thing humans can do that no other species can.

Cooking: The secret to the evolution of the human brain

October 24, 2012, at 2:23 PM

A new study shows raw food by itself isn't enough to fuel our billions of neurons

A person is silhouetted against the rising super moon in New Zealand on May 6: Some 4.5 billion years ago the moon and the Earth might have been one.

Was the moon once part of Earth?

October 18, 2012, at 11:18 AM

Multiple studies add credence to the theory that a piece of our planet broke off billions of years ago, thanks to a massive collision between Earth and another orb

While Albert Einstein reportedly had an IQ of 160, a 6-year-old Ohioan recently scored a 176.

5 kids smarter than Albert Einstein

October 17, 2012, at 4:48 PM

Two British girls recently notched IQ scores of 162, beating out Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and the godfather of modern physics himself

An artist's rendition of the newly discovered planet named PH1, seen in the foreground. The planet is 3,200 light-years away from Earth.

The newly discovered Star Wars-like planet with four suns

October 16, 2012, at 12:28 PM

Luke Skywalker's home of Tatooine, with its two suns, is suddenly more than just science fiction

NASA has created a futuristic exoskeleton called the X1, reminiscent of Marvel Comic's Iron Man suit.

NASA's Iron Man space suit

October 15, 2012, at 5:41 PM

The space agency is working on a load-bearing exoskeleton to help astronauts work out and (potentially) lift heavy objects with augmented strength

Scientists now believe they know why soil samples collected during the Apollo 11 Moon Mission contain water particles.

Where did the water on the moon come from?

October 15, 2012, at 3:21 PM

Icy droplets on the lunar surface are more prevalent than we ever thought, and now scientists think they know how the particles got there

This photo was created using NASA's Chandra X-ray satellite to show the death of four stars.

NASA's dazzling X-ray images of dying stars

October 12, 2012, at 12:03 PM

In a couple billion years, our sun will explode into "amorphous pink blobs" called nebulae, like those pictured here

Employees in a Swiss chocolate factory: On average, every man, woman, and child in Switzerland eats 120 bars of chocolate each year.

Is the secret to winning a Nobel Prize... chocolate?

October 12, 2012, at 11:06 AM

The average Swiss citizen consumes about 120 bars of chocolate every year, and the country produces an exceptional number of geniuses

Roughly one-third of 55 Cancri e's mass comes from diamonds.

The rare super-Earth made of diamond

October 11, 2012, at 3:20 PM

40 light years away, astronomers have found a jewel of a planet

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket attached to the cargo-only capsule called Dragon lifts off from the launch pad on Oct. 7 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The spacecraft is carrying supplies, including ice cream, to the International Space Station.

What the SpaceX launch means for private space flight

October 8, 2012, at 8:55 AM

The company founded by PayPal billionaire Elon Musk makes its inaugural run to the International Space Station, marking a big step for commercial space flight

"Cupriavidus metallidurans can eat toxins and poop out gold nuggets," says Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo.

The bacteria that turns toxic chemicals into pure gold

October 4, 2012, at 11:55 AM

Introducing the microbe with the Midas touch

This image of a methane lake on Titan was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The space boat that could explore Saturn's moon

October 3, 2012, at 1:02 PM

Forget NASA's Curiosity. Now engineers are dreaming of a floating rover that would cruise around Titan — on land and sea

Geoengineers in Scotland want to exploit a well-positioned asteroid to generate a dust cloud that would help block the sun's harmful rays from Earth.

How asteroid dust could help us cool down Earth

October 1, 2012, at 2:37 PM

Scottish space scientists cook up an otherworldly plan to shade our planet from the sun's harmful radiation

This set of images provided by NASA compares rounded gravel fragments found both on Mars (left) and Earth (right).

Did the Curiosity just find proof of water on Mars?

September 28, 2012, at 5:05 PM

Smooth pebbles and angular rocky outcroppings suggest an ancient river once flowed on the Red Planet's desert-like surface

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