In Test of Water on Moon, Craft Hits Bull’s-Eye

By KENNETH CHANG

NASA, via Reuters

This artist's rendering released by NASA on Friday shows the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite as it crashes into the moon to test for the presence of water.

A piece of a satellite slammed into a Moon crater Friday morning in the hopes of kicking up debris for analysis.

Observatory

Aerial View: Albatrosses Following a Killer Whale

By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Surveillance cameras are everywhere these days, capturing just about everything: the good, the bad, the unmentionable.

Observatory

Counting Coins to Count Rome’s Population

By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Two researchers have tried to resolve fluctuations in census figures using unusual data: numbers of recovered coin hoards.

Paper Challenges Ideas About ‘Early Bird’ Dinosaur

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

The Natural History Museum, London

Scientists who examined pieces of fossil bone concluded that Archaeopteryx was a dinosaur.

Closer examination of an Archaeopteryx fossil suggests that the species was a feathered dinosaur that did not have the characteristics of a modern bird.

Times Topics: Paleontology

U.S. Blocks Oil Drilling at 60 Sites in Utah

By JOHN M. BRODER

Faulting the Bush administration, the Interior Department barred oil and gas development at eight of the sites and said 52 others would be subjected to further study.

Report on Future Fish Catches

By CORNELIA DEAN

Global warming will not necessarily change the amount of fish caught half a century from now, but it will shift catches away from the tropics toward the poles.

TierneyLab

Michelangelo vs. Leonardo

By JOHN TIERNEY

What stopped Michelangelo from even starting the battle mural he was commissioned to do on the same wall as Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Battle of Anghiari”?

Lens Blog

James Hayden won fourth place in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition with this picture of an anglerfish ovary.

Finding Art Through a Microscope

By THOMAS LIN

Nikon announced the winners of its annual photomicrography competition on Thursday.

Slide Show: Art and Science in a Small World | Post a Comment

This illustration shows a nearly invisible ring around Saturn -- the largest of the giant planet's many rings. It was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

NASA Telescope Discovers Giant Ring Around Saturn

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn.

Israel M. Gelfand as a professor of mathematics at Rutgers.

Israel Gelfand, Math Giant, Dies at 96

By KENNETH CHANG

Dr. Gelfand’s pioneering work in many areas has proved crucial in quantum mechanics, M.R.I. imaging and CAT scans.

Prizes Aside, the P-NP Puzzler Has Consequences

By JOHN MARKOFF

The solving of a grand math challenge in the fields of theoretical computer science and complexity theory has garnered interest, but no real answers.

Pentagon Research Director Visits Universities in Bid to Re-energize Partnerships

By JOHN MARKOFF

The Pentagon’s research arm is working to mend relationships damaged under the Bush administration.

Science Times: Oct. 6, 2009

Findings

PAINTINGS Maurizio Seracini, on scaffolding, and the “Battle of Marciano” mural.

A High-Tech Hunt for Lost Art

By JOHN TIERNEY

Leonardo da Vinci probably would have loved the use of scientific gadgetry to locate his lost masterpiece.

GENETICS An I.B.M. simulation of the “DNA transistor” it hopes will sequence genomes by reading DNA pulled through an atomic-size hole.

I.B.M. Joins Pursuit of $1,000 Personal Genome

By JOHN MARKOFF

One of the oldest names in computing is vying for a high-tech piece of the personalized medicine puzzle.

Secrets of the Cell

Self-Destructive Behavior in Cells May Hold Key to a Longer Life

By CARL ZIMMER

To the surprise of scientists, links are emerging between our inner recycling and protection from disease.

Graphic: Biological Recycling

LINKED A boy carrying matoke, a bananalike fruit that is a staple in Uganda.

In Rural Africa, a Fertile Market for Mobile Phones

By SARAH ARNQUIST

The mobile phone is becoming a powerful instrument of learning in African villages.

AT THE HELM Dr. Francis S. Collins is the new National Institutes of Health director.

For N.I.H. Chief, Issues of Identity and Culture

By GARDINER HARRIS

The new head of the National Institutes of Health rejects the notion that faith and science conflict in substantial ways.

Times Topics: Dr. Francis S. Collins

Mind

How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect

By BENEDICT CAREY

When things don’t add up, the mind goes into high gear.

More Mind Columns »

INTERACTION Tommy Conforti, a cancer patient, and Lady, a therapy dog.

Exploring the Health Benefits of Pets

By CARLA BARANAUCKAS

Organizations joined forces in an effort to explore the sway animals have on the well-being of children.

Q&A: Therapy Pets

Health News

Multimedia

Slide Show: Excavating Ardi

Scientists said Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus, was the earliest known skeleton from the human branch of the primate family tree.

Video: Ways of Seeing

After losing her eyesight during adolescence to retinitis pigmentosa, Barbara Campbell recently received an artificial retina -- an experimental technology that might restore her vision.