From Nature magazine.

It's well known that the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, a swirl of stars in an extended, many-armed disk . But the structure of the galaxy is far from two-dimensional. Above and below those familiar spiral arms is a lesser-known feature, a spherical swarm of stars that makes up a halo around the disk.

About 300 million years ago, volcanic ash buried a tropical forest located in what is now Inner Mongolia, much like it did the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.

From Nature magazine

Dawn Higginson thought it was strange when she learned that some diving beetles produce sperm that fuse together at the head like Siamese twins. But when the postdoctoral researcher from the University of Arizona began asking why such conjugate gametes form, things only got even stranger. The sperm of the diving beetle, which gets its name from its ability to swim underwater, occur in many shapes and forms. Whereas a few species make standard tadpole-shaped swimmers, others generate sperm that stack together like traffic cones to form long, many-tailed filaments. Some species even generate two different types of sperm that work together to navigate through the female's fertilization duct.

Squid can save energy by flying rather than swimming, according to calculations based on high-speed photography.

The early signs of autism are visible in the brains of 6-month-old infants, a new study finds, suggesting that future treatments could be given at this time, to lessen the impact of the disorder on children.

The courthouse in L’Aquila, Italy, on February 15 hosted a highly anticipated hearing in the trial of six seismologists and one government official indicted for manslaughter over their reassurances to the public ahead of a deadly earthquake in 2009 (see  "Scientists face trial over earthquake deaths " and "Scientists on trial: At fault? "). During the hearing, the former head of the Italian Department of Civil Protection turned from key witness into defendant, and a seismologist from California criticized Italy’s top earthquake experts.

For people who face frequent needle jabs to treat chronic conditions, a new technology is on the horizon that might make treatment a lot less painful. [More]

Earth is the planet of the plants--and it all can be traced back to one green cell. The world's lush profusion of photosynthesizers--from towering redwoods to ubiquitous diatoms--owe their existence to a tiny alga eons ago that swallowed a cyanobacteria and turned it into an internal solar power plant.

An odd Jupiter-like world is so compact that it defies established theory—and may even represent a new class of planet, astronomers say.

A slower Antarctic current, possibly linked to El Niño, made our planet spin slightly faster in November 2009, a new study suggests.

The oldest plant ever to be regenerated has beaten the previous recordholder by some 30,000 years, a new study says.

Long trenches spotted on lunar highlands suggest that the moon has been recently active, geologically speaking.

It's a discovery perhaps only a frog-licking scientist could make: Toxic frogs secrete sugars and bile acids in addition to their poisons.

Uganda, where 90 percent of the people lack electricity, taps deeper into waterpower, by eliminating cascading rapids on the Victoria Nile.