Water Found on Exoplanets

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected traces of the chemical signature of water in the atmospheres of five different exoplanets (WASP-17b, HD209458b, WASP-12b, WASP-19b and XO-1b) orbiting nearby stars.

Snakes Fastest to Evolve

With the first two full snake genomes (Burmese python, king cobra) fully sequenced, scientists have found snakes have the fastest rate of genetic evolution among vertebrates with the strongest changed genes involving body shape, metabolism and venom production.

Mice Inherit Learned Behavior

Conditioning mice to associate a certain odor with danger, researchers have found the first evidence of learned behavior being passed on trans-generationally to a degree in the mice's pups, who express a sensitivity to the same stimulus although never before having encountered the odor.