Earth may be trapped in an abnormal bubble of space-time that is particularly void of matter, which could account for the apparent acceleration of the universe's expansion, not dark energy.

Astronomers may have accidentally nudged the universe closer to its death by observing dark energy, two astronomers suggest, based on quantum theory.

Recent astronomical measurements, scientists say, cannot rule out the possibility that in a few billion years a mysterious force permeating space-time will be strong enough to blow everything apart, shred rocks, animals, molecules and finally even atoms in a last seemingly mad instant of cosmic self-abnegation.

Astronomers, swamped by a tsunami of data from advances in computing and digital imaging, are developing a new, computational branch of astronomy based on simulations and data exploration. Because its primary tools are computers rather than giant, multimillion telescopes, this new form of astronomy has the potential to democratize science.

Nongovernmental groups, scientists and industry are lining up for a major public relations battle over the good and evils of nanotechnology. One side says nanotech will fill the world with self-replicating microscopic ``nanobots'' -- 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair -- that will wipe out humanity. The other calls nano a silver bullet that promises a cure for cancer, an end to crop shortages and the solution to cleaning up pollution.

A strange repulsive force of \"dark energy\" pervades every nook and cranny of the universe, a team of scientists said earlier this month, but the force not only pushes against the master force of gravity -- it also has astrophysicists\' heads spinning.

Robert Foot of the University of Melbourne claims that invisible asteroids and other cosmic bodies made of a new form of matter may pose a threat to Earth. These meteorites are composed of mirror matter -- a form of the invisible dark matter that many say makes up over 95 percent of the universe -- and may have been responsible for such cataclysmic events as the so-called Tunguska blast, which destroyed acres of Siberian forest in 1908.

Dense clumps of elusive dark matter in the galaxy may have caused the worst mass extinction in Earth's history 250 million years ago, a team of Indian physicists says. Clumps of dark matter passing through Earth would have a direct biological effect and an indirect geological effect, says Afsar Abbas, a professor at the Institute of Physics in India's eastern city of Bhubaneshwar.