Afghanistan may be the Saudi Arabia of lithium—a key energy storage medium—but prosperity will not flow easily. - - - -...

Networks of brain cells in the laboratory can be trained to track time—suggesting we're not ruled by one master clock, a new study says. - - - -...

A dazzling fireball from a Japanese spacecraft, a whirlpool galaxy with an appetite, and a boomerang-shaped stellar jet are among the week's space pictures. - - - -...

Airplanes, it turns out, can change the weather—at least at an extremely local scale, a new study says. - - - -...

One of the universe's biggest and brightest known comets is streaking across early morning skies this week, experts say. - - - -...

How better to say "bless this house" than by sacrificing horse or human? A new dig in China sheds light on the ancient practice's beginnings. - - - -...

The river's strong current could act as an invisible barrier against the oil, buying time for cleanup crews in hard-hit Louisiana, scientists say. - - - -...

Flood-tossed RVs and mangled campsites were left behind after a flash flood ripped through a national forest in Arkansas last weekend, killing at least 20. - - - -...

A vast ocean chock-full of microbes may have once covered more than a third of Mars's surface, according to a new analysis of river deltas on the red planet. - - - -...

A splashy new study estimates the inner moon has enough water for an all-encompassing lunar ocean. "This could be a total game-changer." - - - -...

Water expert Peter Gleick takes us on a journey through bottled-water plants, Kabbalah centers, and what it means to be a water sommelier. - - - -...

Water expert Peter Gleick takes us on a journey through bottled-water plants, Kabbalah centers, and what it means to be a water sommelier. - - - -...

Japan's Hayabusa, the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid and return to Earth, made a fiery reentry over southern Australia Sunday night. - - - -...

Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft returned to Earth this weekend, possibly carrying the first dust taken directly from the face of an asteroid. - - - -...

Ocean conditions this spring resemble those of 2005, the most active and destructive Atlantic hurricane season on record, meteorologists say. - - - -...

Eight national parks lie in the trajectory of the Gulf oil spill, putting rare animals and pristine coastlines at risk, the Park Service says. - - - -...

The late Jacques Cousteau's hundredth birthday is making headlines. Why is the ocean explorer such a legend? Here are five good reasons. - - - -...

This weekend a Japanese spacecraft is due to return to Earth, possibly carrying the first sample taken directly from the surface of an asteroid. - - - -...

Ecuador plans to forgo drilling for oil in one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, in exchange for money from the developed world. - - - -...

New telescope pictures prove the youngest known planet outside our solar system does in fact exist—and that planets can grow up fast—a new study says. - - - -...

Giant reptiles that ruled dinosaur-era seas might have been partly warm-blooded—giving them the faster metabolism of an aggressive hunter, a new study says. - - - -...

At 5,500 years old, the "astonishingly modern" shoe was exceptionally preserved by sheep dung and dryness. - - - -...

A new drug successfully wiped out the deadly virus in monkeys, possibly bringing humans a step closer to a cure, scientists say. - - - -...