SCIENCE

Asteroid Apophis, which passed by Earth from late night Wednesday to midnight Thursday, has lost its doomsday label. This is great news based on new data gathered by NASA. This is great news, considering scientists have just found out Apophis is even bigger than initially thought.

In the near future, there are chances that diabetics would no longer need injections to receive insulin. The hope of needle-free insulin shots comes from a research by Australian scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne.

The colonization of the Red Planet is not only a topic of science fiction films or books; it is becoming a reality. More and more people believe that the human life on Mars is just a matter of time.

Apophis, an asteroid first spotted in June 2004, passes by Earth Jan. 9 U.S. time. This near-Earth space object was once called "doomsday asteroid," but scientists confirm its 2013 approach is nowhere near enough to impact Earth. However, scientists have just announced Wednesday the asteroid was actually bigger than previously believed.

The bushfires raging across New South Wales has caused about $1 million damage to the state's stock. Although there are no lives lost or homes razed due to the blazes, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said about 10,000 sheep were lost in Yass shire alone.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is pondering on a plan that will allow a robotic spacecraft drag a near-Earth asteroid into the moon’s orbit. The Keck Institute for Space Studies in California reports that the asteroid-moon mission worth $2.6 billion could begin on 2025.

Asteroid Apophis will have its nearest approach to planet Earth today, January 9. Viewers can watch the live streaming of the asteroid flyby at the website Slooh.com. The online sky-watching service will also provide footages from other observatories all over the world.

Within the vast expanse of the Milky Way, U.S. astronomers estimate that some 17 billion Earth-sized planets exist and likely located in the so-called habitable zones, where water in liquid form is found.

A video of a polar bear attacking a camera man has gone viral with a million views within only four days. The footage drew mixed reactions from disbelief, to genuine awe, to excitement and suspense.

Tweets from number one microblogging site Twitter could reach outer space. This was proven by tweet exchanges between American actor William Shatner, who portrayed Captain Kirk in Star Trek, and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Asteroid Apophis is expected to be visible in the Earth sky on Wednesday, Jan. 9. The asteroid is quite far relative to the moon's distance from the planet. But in 2004, scientists feared an eventual impact with this 270-meter rock in space.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronomers are getting ready for asteroids and comets that could flyby near planet Earth this 2013. NASA’s deep-space radars at Goldstone, California and Arecibo, Puerto Rico will reportedly monitor space on January 9 for a particular flyby of an asteroid identified as 99942 Apophis at approximately 14.5 million kilometers away.

Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal, a global e-commerce business, is planning to build a small city on planet Mars. However, there is a small catch - only 80,000 space explorers would be allowed to live on the red planet, and they must be vegetarians.

NASA’s Curiosity rover captured the image of a flower-like object on Mars, but scientists are quick to announce the object was just a rock or "part of the rock" in the image. Check out the accompanying photos to see for yourself.

World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Australia insisted over the weekend that Queensland does not need new coal ports in and near the Great Barrier Reef. WWF based its assessment on the state government's Great Barrier Reef Ports Strategy Economic Analysis that said coal ports in the area are operating at only 52 per cent of their planned capacity.

Professor Stephen Hawking, who has appeared in the hit CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," is featured in a new Go Compare advertisement. The brilliant scientist showed once again that he has a knack for pulling off funny "Bazinga" moments.

The 2013 New Year’s Day coincided with “natural fireworks” erupting from the sun, which is approaching “solar maximum,” during which there will be more intense solar flares.

Like previous yearend holidays, 2012 ended with a lot of feasting across different nations and continents. The menu varied from national favourite dishes to traditional yearend holiday food ranging from pasta to fresh fruit.

The 2013 Quadrantid meteor shower will only last for a few hours at its peak time on January 3. In a released NASA statement, the major sky gazing time will still differ on location so viewers who wish to experience the spectacular meteor display really need to wake up in the early hours of the morning.

Australian astronomers are gunning to detect some 700,000 new galaxies via the $105 million Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) located in the remote desert region of Western Australia.

The skies will welcome the year 2013 with a spectacular show when the Quadrantids meteor shower peaks in the early morning hours of January 3, 1013. The meteor shower is expected to reach its maximum rate of 80 meteors per hour with the possibility of exceeding to more than 200 meteors per hour.

Although the last Doomsday prediction that the world would end on Dec 21, 2012 was an epic failure, red-faced Mayans would not prevent other apocalyptic forecasters from prophesying end times.

A study of the activity in the South China Sea reefs had shown the coral reefs in the area greatly deteriorated at the expense of the economic growth activities in mainland China.

Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and South China Sea Institute of Oceanology researchers blamed China's economic boom for the shrinkage by at least 80 per cent of coral reefs in the region over the past three decades.

The idea of spending Christmas and New Year in space may sound cool but the six NASA astronauts pay the price of celebrating it away from their loved ones. NASA’s Expedition 34 astronauts are spending the holiday season aboard the International Space Station as they exchange gifts, dine and have fun with their own holiday activities while traveling around space.

Scientists from the West Australian Department of Fisheries are looking into the odds that the rising high temperature of the sea waters in the state are what caused sharks to swim near the shore and eventually attack humans.

With the end-of-the-world scenario now over, Australians would likely be able to concentrate on the Christmas and New Year celebrations, which would mean a lot of food preparations. It also means a lot of wasted food. Throughout the year, Aussies waste $8 billion worth of food, said a study by Do Something!, released on Sunday. Based on an estimated volume of four million tonnes of food thrown away yearly, Do Something! founder John Dee reckoned the value of per capita wastage at $1,036.

Despite the sun not flaring, planets not aligning and asteroids not hitting Earth, no mass suicides occurred on Friday as feared by national authorities. Credit goes to local and national leaders for taking steps to prevent the feared mass suicides.

The world prepared, but the Mayan prediction that the world would end on Dec 21, 2012 did not come to pass. With the global buzz that accompanied the run-up to the Doomsday, the date would definitely be added to the list of end-of-the-world predictions that fizzled out.