With cautious optimism, physicists say they may have finally "felt" the ghostly effects of mysterious dark matter deep in a Minnesota mine.

The Amazon's flying rivers"—humid air currents that deliver water to the vast rain forest—may be ebbing, in turn hampering the region's ability to help curb global warming, experts say.

About half of all known catfish species—many more than expected—bear spines that, when agitated, can rip open venom glands and stymie predators, a new study says.

See the recent "underwater Fourth of July" scientists believe is the deepest volcanic eruption ever seen—with three-foot-wide lava bubbles and flows creeping over the seafloor.Video

Despite its name, the sucker-footed bat of Madagascar—one of the few bats known to roost upright—actually uses "modified sweat" to cling to surfaces, a new study says. With video.

Archaeologists have found the only known burial shroud from a Jesus-era tomb in Jerusalem. Not only is it nothing like the Shroud of Turin, but it also held the world's earliest known leper.

A newfound planet close enough for us to probe its atmosphere is almost the same size and composition as Earth—but is still "completely alien" to anything in our solar system, astronomers say.

These hard-to-reach "plush toys" on Papua New Guineau have been outfitted with "Crittercams" for the first time. The breathtaking treetop footage is already solving tree kangaroo mysteries, researchers say. Video.

The massive column of molten rock that feeds the park's volcano dives deeper and fills a magma chamber bigger than previous estimates, according to the most detailed model yet of the region's plumbing.

A superbright meteor pierces the California sky, Hubble unveils its "holiday wreath," dust helps solve a Saturn moon mystery, and more in our selection of the week's best space pictures.

No, Google hasn't been taken over by a foreign country. The green-and-white flag over the Google logo today is the banner of the artificial language Esperanto, flying in recognition of the 150th birthday of its inventor, L.L. Zamenhof.

The environment—and the environmental movement—suffered significant setbacks in 2009, experts say. Among the lowlights: Lemurs became food, a lot of ice became water, and in the Caribbean some sharks became nonexistent.

What do quiver trees, clownfish, and koalas have in common? They're among ten "flagship" species likely to suffer huge loses due to a diverse array of global warming impacts, according to a new report.

Octopuses off Indonesia make stow-and-go shelters out of empty coconut shells, a new study says. Once they stopped laughing, scientists hailed the behavior as a new form of tool use.

Today's recyclers can now conceivably lay claim to a rich, bloody, brawny heritage, if a new discovery is any indication.

Starving koalas, homeless clownfish, and gender-bending sea turtles are among ten species that join the polar bear as icons of global warming's impact, according to a new report released in Copenhagen.

Scientists are "blown away" by octopuses discovered tip-toeing with coconut-shell halves suctioned to their undersides, then reassembling the halves and disappearing inside—a rare example of animal tool use, a new study says. With video.