SCIENCE

The $1.5 billion National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project will be launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) by the end of the month.

The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority will join hands with Maritime New Zealand in clean-up efforts near Tauranga Harbor in what could be the most terrible maritime pollution debacle in the country’s history.

The situation of MV Rena oil spill seems to be at its worst on Wednesday. Massive oil spills have been observed on Tuesday and it was reported the ship already leaked out 130 to 350 tonnes of oil.

A 2.4-ton German satellite is expected to make its way back to Earth this month, with current forecasts set on Oct. 22 or 23. Scientists say the odds of someone getting hit by the satellite is at 1-in-2000.

Philippine Embassy officials are expected Thursday to talk to the captain and crew of MV Rena, the stricken cargo ship that is now massively spewing oil in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty. MV Rena's captain, Filipino Mauro Balomanga, who was reportedly celebrating his 44th birthday at the time of the crash, has appeared in Tauranga District Court, and is now facing a charge under Section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act of operating a vessel, causing unnecessary danger or risk to a person or p...

The cargo ship that ran aground in the Bay of Plenty close to Tauranga in Auckland, New Zealand may be the cause of an extensive oil leakage as it was found with fissures in its hull and is now leaning in the high seas.

Nokia launches a new app that will allow people to easily unlock their phones by using their faces as their passwords. Facelock is a Symbian 3 based Nokia application that saves people from remembering their security codes because all they need is to get a close picture of themselves.

Man could have descended from a predatory marine fish that lived some 500 million years ago.

With the retirement of space shuttles this summer, NASA has depended on Russia to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station at the cost of $50 million per person. With the NASA-backed space taxis soon to see operations, this costly arrangement will soon be over.

An ancient lake that vanished 125,000 years ago could hold the clues to future changes in the climate and its effects on living organisms

The hypothesis of geologist Mark McMenamin about the existence of the mythical Kraken to explain the ichthyosaur bones found in Nevada's Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park has left a few scientists skeptical.

A huge crack has appeared on the side of the stricken cargo vessel Rena and is now in danger of sinking and endangering the Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga in New Zealand' Bay of Plenty.

Astronomers have discovered over two dozen previously unknown failed stars, otherwise known as brown dwarfs, including "one of the puniest free-floating objects known."

Tropical Storm Banyan spared the Philippines Wednesday morning when it weakened to a tropical depression after it made landfall. Banyan, locally named Ramon, is expected to reach the central and southern regions later in the day.

After its final mission in June this year, shuttle Endeavour has been turned over to its new owner, the California Science Center. NASA has turned over the ownership of the spacecraft this week although actual transfer will still be in 2012.

New Zealand salvage manager Bruce Anderson told the Herald Wednesday morning the hull of the Rena had started to bend amid rough seas and high winds. Metal plating on Rena has begun deforming, as the vessel is now listing at 18-19 degrees with its bow firmly wedged in on the Astrolabe Reef.

An egg shaped 4.5 million year old meteorite crashed directly on the roof of a French Family. Coincidentally, the house is owned by the Comette family which is on a vacation when it happened. They were not aware that a meteorite crashed until their roof started leaking

Labor's carbon tax measure is expected to be passed on Wednesday morning by the House of Representatives after the party has secured sufficient support for Clean Energy Future Bill 2011 and 17 associated Bills 74-72.

You Tube is setting its sight on outer space with the launching of its You Tube Space Lab Channel and is currently inviting students to present unique concepts for experiments that can be conducted in the vast cosmos.

The story of Armaggedon may just hold true as a new study revealed that explosions of stars or black hole collisions in the Milky Way produces colossal blasts of lethal gamma rays, X-rays and cosmic rays that can severely threaten Earth.

New discoveries about the sun are expected when the Solar Orbiter mission, a newly selected mission by the European Space Agency, is sent off to study the sun at a distance that has never been dared before.

A gigantic sea monster, similar to the legendary Kraken with many limbs that could reach the top of a ship's main mast, was said to have lived off the coast of Iceland and Norway centuries ago.

A lake, covered by almost three miles of the West Antarctic ice sheet, has been cut off from the rest of the world for almost a million years.

Occupy Wall Street protesters are undergoing collectivist zombie training in Atlanta, where a large group was caught on film engaging in a weird sort of "one voice" hypnotic chanting ritual that characterizes the key principles of both Communism and Socialism.

Insanity prevailed in California once again today as Governor Jerry Brown signed bill AB499 allowing 12-year-old children the ability to consent to being injected with Gardasil vaccines without their parents' knowledge; yet at the same time the Governor banned the use of tanning beds by anyone under 18 unless they received parental consent.

On Tuesday night, at 10:06 p.m. EDT (0206 GMT), the part of the world where the moon is visible could see the astronomical opposite of a supermoon, the smallest full moon of 2011.

New Zealand locals are working together to clean up along the coast in Mt Maunganui after the oil spill from MV Rena has become massive, increasing "several times over" on Monday afternoon. Maritime New Zealand said between 130 and 350 tonnes of oil has leaked out of the Rena by Tuesday morning.

A virus discovered off the coast of Chile is now considered the biggest of its kind after scientists found it was 10 to 20 times longer than the average virus and has more genes than the previous record-holder.

One new nettle species, found hidden among stalagmites and limited to just 10 adult plants, may be a relic from a past ice age.