The designers behind a "thinking" yacht are hoping to break a world record by sending it across the Atlantic Ocean without any human assistance. The four-meter boat, "Avalon", was designed and built by an eight-strong team of third-year engineering students at Swiss science university ETH Zurich. The students are planning to take the boat to a robotic sailing regatta in July, before launching it into the Microtransat Transatlantic challenge in early September. Using sensors to detect the speed and direction ...

The migration patterns of basking sharks have long mystified marine biologists, but new research has finally revealed where the world's second-biggest fish hide out for half of every year. "While commonly sighted in surface waters during summer and autumn months, the disappearance of basking sharks during winter has been a great source of debate ever since an article in 1954 suggested that they hibernate on the ocean floor during this time," said Gregory Skomal of Massachusetts Marine Fisheries, one ...

The mysterious burst of light in the sky and loud booms witnessed Sunday night by residents along the Mid-Atlantic coastline was likely caused by a Russian rocket booster re-entering the atmosphere, said an official at the U.S. Naval Observatory. The exact cause of the flash that caused hundreds of people to call the media, local authorities and the National Weather Service was still unknown Monday afternoon. But eyewitness accounts of the color, shape and timing of the light and ...

After almost 3,000 miles of rowing, bouts of seasickness, equipment failure and salt sores, Paul Ridley is back on land. On day 88, Ridley, 25, completed his solo rowing trip across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the youngest American ever to do so. "I'm exhausted. Overwhelmed with all the excitement from my arrival," Ridley told CNN. "Physically feeling good but will be feeling a lot better when the soreness starts to heal and once that happens I will be back to ...

Four British Coastguard helicopters of the same model as the one that crashed off Canada last week have been grounded in Scotland to replace a gearbox mounting part, and all those models worldwide are expected to be grounded as well. This move comes after the Transportation Safety Board of Canada indicated on Friday that the components must be replaced on Sikorsky-92 A helicopters across the globe. The Canadian agency said the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will issue an emergency airworthiness ...

Searchers on Friday combed the Atlantic Ocean for 16 missing people, a day after a chopper ditched in the frigid waters off Canada, a rescue official said. The S-92 Sikorsky copter had been carrying the people to an oil platform when it slammed into the waters near Newfoundland on Thursday morning. "We will continue to search until there's absolutely no chance that any survivors will be located," Maj. Denis McGuire of the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax said Thursday. "Until ...

A helicopter carrying 18 people who work in the oil industry ditched Thursday in the frigid Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland, a Canadian rescue official in Halifax told CNN.