Geoff Brumfiel

The chief disease agency in the U.S. is looking into why the spores shipped to laboratories in nine states and a military base in South Korea hadn't been properly neutralized. So far no one is sick.

A NASA spacecraft plunged into the planet Mercury on Thursday. It's demise comes after four years of studying our solar system's innermost planet.

Launched shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Hubble telescope isn't showing its age. Astronomers and other fans hope this old charmer will be useful for many years to come.

Gazing into your dog's eyes apparently triggers happy feelings in both parties - suggesting that dogs really may love us back. (This piece originally aired on All Things Considered on April 16, 2015.)

It's a question that bedevils dog owners the world over: "Is she staring at me because she loves me? Or because she wants another biscuit?"

Research published Thursday in the journal Science suggests that love (or something close) could be behind that stare. The work shows that when dogs ...

Italy is sending a high-tech espresso machine to the International Space Station. And NASA is worried it might be too popular.

To keep its code-breaking prowess, the National Security Agency must recruit scores of the brightest students in math and computer science each year. The Snowden revelations are hurting those efforts.

Researchers have answered a question that has been nagging them for years: Exactly how long is a day on the planet Saturn? The result (10 hours and 32 minutes or so) was published this week in the journal Nature, and could teach scientists more about the giant, ringed planet.

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A yearlong investigation by government scientists has concluded that a major accident at a nuclear waste dump was caused by the wrong brand of cat litter.

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a 277-page report into an explosion that occurred on Feb. 14, 2014, at the Waste ...

A new analysis of particles believed to be from the bottom of oceans inside Enceladus suggests the moon is toasty warm.

Environmentalists and Democrats have launched investigations into the funding of climate skeptics. Some say the probes are necessary, while others worry they could rightly be seen as harassment.

NASA's Dawn mission has reached its destination and is orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres. It's the end of an odyssey to explore an odd, in-between world.

Shifts in climate in the Middle Ages likely drove bubonic plague bacteria from gerbils in Asia to people in Europe, research now suggests. Rats don't deserve all the blame.

Two species of fern that diverged 60 million years ago are as evolutionarily distant as, say, elephants and manatees. Nonetheless, the two species recently produced a hybrid, say astounded botanists.

Earlier this month the U.S. Navy's research office rented out a conference center in Washington, D.C. to show off some of its hottest new technology.

On display was an electromagnetic gun, and drones that could swarm around an enemy ship. But it wasn't all James Bond-style gadgets.

In a ...

Physicist Charles Townes died Tuesday. He was a key inventor of the laser and won the Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1964. But his career didn't end there.

The administration says the reactors are good for the climate, good for American industry and for strengthening ties with India. But some worry the deal also has a dark side.

Scientists have used a particle accelerator to read ancient scrolls without unrolling them. The breakthrough could potentially be used to decipher hundreds of texts.

Two scientists say the New England Patriots could have gained some advantage from deflating a ball in Sunday's game. But was it worth the risk?

A new study finds that the academic disciplines most associated with "geniuses" are also the fields in which women are underrepresented.