The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has long been known worldwide for its engineering programs, and a symposium at MIT this week will draw scientists from around the globe to focus on a hot facet of the field -- climate engineering.Creating an artificial cloud cover, or modifying clouds to reflect light back into space, is one of them. But probably the more popular climate engineering technology now involves pumping sulfates into the atmosphere to block the sun's rays and cool temperatures, ...

NASA launched its Ares I-X rocket Wednesday, after multiple delays over two days because of bad weather.

Throughout his life, Ronn Wade has been surrounded by death. And in most cases, it hasn't seemed to bother him. Wade calls the collection fascinating and says we can learn a lot from mummies in general. "They were exposed to a lot of things we are today -- like bacteria, disease," he notes. "We can see signs of osteoarthritis, stress, even hardening of the arteries." When you hear the word "mummy," you might think of the ancient Egyptians who preserved ...

Thousands of Filipinos who live near coastlines and mountainous areas were evacuated Friday as the storm-battered country braced for Typhoon Parma, which is expected to make landfall Saturday. Parma had maximum sustained winds of 132 mph (212 kph) and was on the doorstep of northern Luzon, in the northern part of the Philippines, early Saturday. It was expected to make landfall along the country's northeastern coast Saturday. Tropical Storm force winds extended well over 300 kilometers (186 miles) -- far ...

Oliver Yeh is the kind of guy who cooks up ideas so kooky, so out-of-this-world, that even his fellow MIT students tend to roll their eyes when they hear them. But that never stops him. His latest concept -- to launch a camera into near-space using a weather balloon, a cell phone, hand warmers and a drink cooler -- fell flat when he sent out an e-mail message to dozens of his classmates, asking for help. Unfazed, Yeh managed to ...

The Phoenix Mars Lander has entered a state of suspended operation called "safe mode" due to low power, mission managers said Thursday. And while they hope to recharge batteries and reactivate the spacecraft in the coming days, they say the rapid onset of the Martian winter means Phoenix's days are severely numbered. "This is a precarious time for Phoenix," Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a written statement. "We're in the bonus round of ...

Santa strapped on his body armor and sidearm Monday and got an early start on his rounds, taking candy canes and holiday wishes to U.S. troops in Iraq. The Super Puma ditched about 120 miles east of Aberdeen while approaching an offshore platform. "Everyone has been recovered from the water," said James Lyon, assistant controller of the RAF's aeronautical rescue coordination center at RAF Kinloss, Scotland. "We don't know their condition, but we believe there are no major injuries." Five ...

Rainy weather and poor logistics thwarted efforts by relief troops who walked for hours over rock, debris and mud on Tuesday in hopes of reaching the worst-hit area of an earthquake that killed nearly 10,000 in central China, state-run media reported.

The space shuttle Discovery was waved off from its first chance to land Friday afternoon because of unstable weather near Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said. The shuttle will make another orbit of Earth, while NASA mission managers watch to see if extreme moisture and lightning threaten a safe landing. The next opportunity to land in Florida would come at 7:23 p.m. ET; however, Mission Control told the shuttle crew the forecast for that time "looks about the same." ...

Treacherous storm conditions have plagued southern Brazilian states for nearly a week, causing flooding and landslides and displacing thousands of people, a senior official told CNN Saturday. In Santa Catarina, the severe weather started Monday, with a tornado with estimated winds reaching 200 km/h (125 mph) striking the western part of the state, said Santa Catarina Civil Defense Secretary Marcio Luiz Alves. Heavy downpours have continued due to a low pressure system, he said. In one area, video from CNN ...