Japan's first lunar orbiter successfully blasted into space Friday on the most extensive mission to investigate the moon since the US Apollo programme began nearly four decades ago, officials said.

NASA scientists will join researchers from around the world to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to reduce the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer. The United Nations Environment Program will host the meeting from Sept. 23-26 in Athens, Greece. NASA scientists study climate change and research the timing of the recovery of the ozone layer.

Easy-to-remove chewing gum is to become a reality, thanks to a major technological breakthrough. The announcement will be made this week at the BA Festival of Science in York, UK.

Physicists at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University have made a unique measurement of an exotic oxygen nucleus, leading scientists one step closer to deciphering the behavior of the element at its limits of existence.

About 2 million people die of malaria every year, of which more than a million are children in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is caused by a protozoan parasite belonging to the genus Plasmodium, and Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for the most severe form of malaria. Due to the increasing incidence of resistance to existing drugs, there is a growing need to discover new and more effective drugs...

A group of scientists recently discovered an association between being overweight and a disease called gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in women.

The personal effects of the victims of disasters and terrorist attacks are sometimes returned to relatives in bin liners or withheld for spurious health and safety reasons, says a researcher speaking at the Death, dying & disposal conference organised by the University of Bath today.

(AP) -- A study released Thursday predicts more bad air days in the summer for Cleveland, Columbus and eight other eastern U.S. cities if global warming continues unabated.

In work that could lead to new treatments for sensory disorders in which people experience the strange phenomena of seeing better with one eye covered, MIT researchers report that they have identified the gene responsible for binocular vision.

A U.S. study suggests differing zests for beer might reveal more about alcohol's effect on the brain than inherent differences in taste sensitivity.

(AP) -- Five months after the first phase of his trek from the world's largest aquarium to his native home off the Georgia coast, Dylan the sea turtle is taking his time finishing the journey.

(AP) -- A federal judge has given preliminary approval for Sprint Nextel Corp. to pay $30 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging it overcharged in passing along a federally mandated phone service subsidy.

A fossilized whale skeleton excavated 20 years ago amid the stench and noise of a seabird and elephant seal rookery on California's Año Nuevo Island turns out to be the youngest example on the Pacific coast of a fossil whale fall and the first in California, according to University of California, Berkeley, paleontologists.

It doesn't matter how small or large it is, if a cervical tumor glows brightly in a PET scan, it's apt to be more dangerous than dimmer tumors. That's the conclusion of a new study of cervical cancer patients at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Democratic 2008 presidential hopefuls parried unusual questions about flatulent cows and "spoiled brat" voters, as well as Iraq and health care, in the first exclusively online campaign "debate."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the nationwide recall of 1,440 bags of Harry and David Hearthside Soups, Southwestern Chicken Chili Mix.

In a blow to US automakers, a federal judge has ruled that the state of Vermont can set limits on car emissions believed to contribute to global warming, rejecting arguments that only the US government can regulate the industry.

NASA has awarded five one-month extensions of its Johnson Space Center operations support contract to the Computer Sciences Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas.

(AP) -- Nokia Corp. said Thursday it's teaming up with competitors - including Samsung and Sony Ericsson - on a flash memory card that works with a variety of cell phones and other gadgets, regardless of maker.

New research led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory physicist Matthias Bode provides a more thorough understanding of new mechanisms, which makes it possible to switch a magnetic nanoparticle without any magnetic field and may enable computers to more accurately write and store information.

A U.S. study showed that consumers often are unable to determine the true cost of goods when confronted with a "double discount."

A U.S. study determined product names with vowel sounds that convey positive attributes about the product are deemed more favorable by consumers.

The key to finding new mineral deposits in Australia could be to start looking with a glass of wine or a soft drink.

Two neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) are working with local company PhysioGenix to investigate a novel animal model the company has developed for researching diseases like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and ADHD.