The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that jolted Chile on Saturday was felt as far away as São Paulo. But NASA scientists are proposing that its repercussions are truly global in a geophysical sense: it likely shifted Earth's axis by about eight centimeters. [More]

Obesity appears to be associated with an increased risk of depression, and depression also appears associated with an increased risk of developing obesity, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies.

A new device invented by engineers in California could make it much faster to convert pulses of light into electronic signals and back again. The technology could be applied to ultrafast, high-capacity communications, imaging of the Earth's surface and for encrypting secure messages.

New research shows women who don't receive a clot-busting drug after a stroke fare worse than men who are not treated.

A low-carbohydrate diet, a low-fat diet and the Mediterranean diet were equally effective in helping obese people to reverse carotid atherosclerosis after losing moderate amounts of weight and improving their blood pressure, in a new study.

Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon's north pole. NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it's estimated there could be at least 600 million metric tons of water ice.

Scientists broadly agree that global warming may threaten the survival of many plant and animal species; but global warming did not kill the Monteverde golden toad, an often cited example of climate-triggered extinction, says a new study.

A colossal red granite head of ancient Egypt's King Amenhotep III (circa 1390-1352 BC) has been discovered in his funerary temple of the Kom El-Hettan area on Luxor's West Bank.

Sixty-seven million years ago, when dinosaur hatchlings first scrambled out of their eggs, their first -- and last -- glimpse of the world might have been the open jaws of a 3.5-meter-long snake named Sanajeh indicus, based on the discovery in India of a nearly complete fossilized skeleton of a primitive snake coiled inside a dinosaur nest.

A survey of parents who had a child die of cancer found one in eight considered hastening their child's death, a deliberation influenced by the amount of pain the child experienced during the last month of life, researchers report. The study suggests that many parents worry that their children will suffer from uncontrollable pain. The researchers say the findings underscore the importance of managing patients' suffering and communicating with parents about pain management options.