Scientists have simulated a solar flare in the lab, recreating the super-heated cloud of electrically-charged gas seen on the Sun known as a plasma. It was part of an initiative to develop fusion power - the nuclear energy that keeps the Sun shining.
Tests have been carried out on ground penetrating missiles using 'bunker buster' technology that could be fired into the depths of dark lunar craters to look for ice.
China and the US are officially joining the International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor project, the largest international science project of the next decade - excepting the International Space Station.
Dr. Claire Fraser against calls for the classification of the genome data of harmful organisms because the data may be useful to terrorists. She advocates keeping "our databases open - to promote research that can increase our level of preparedness and as a corollary, perhaps serve as a deterrent."
India's desire to get to the Moon is another example of how Chinese space plans are shaking up the international space scene.
A group of researchers have identified two seismic events that they think provide the first evidence of strangelets or primordial quark matter passing through the Earth.
The first private Moon landing has finally been given the green light by the US Government.
An asteroid discovered just weeks ago has become the most threatening object yet detected in space.
Scientists have assembled the first synthetic virus. The US researchers built the infectious agent from scratch using the genome sequence for polio.
Analysis of the light coming from distant quasars suggests that a fundamental physical constant may have been increasing slightly over the past six billion years.