compiled by David Kaplan

A new, expandable “room” has been opened up on the space station.The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (Beam) is a demonstrator for the type of habitats that may be used to build future orbiting labs.

Kepler telescope discovers new planets. As David Shukman reports NASA’s Kepler telescope has discovered more than 100 Earth-sized planets orbiting alien stars. It has also detected nine small planets within so-called habitable zones, where conditions are favorable for liquid water – and potentially life.

E-ELT: Contract to construct giant telescope The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) will be the biggest optical and infrared observatory ever built, with a primary mirror nearly 40m across.

Evidence of ancient tsunamis on Mars Scientists think they see evidence of two huge tsunamis having once swept across the surface of Mars.
They point to satellite data suggesting a major redistribution of sediments over a large region at the edge of the Red Planet’s northern lowlands.

Curiosity rover: The reward for ‘whale watching’ on Mars Whale Rock. It’s got quite a story to tell. When scientists first saw it in images returned from NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, they really weren’t sure what to make of it.

China’s Science Revolution
China is super-sizing science. From building the biggest experiments the world has ever seen to rolling out the latest medical advances on a massive scale and pushing the boundaries of exploration from the deepest ocean to outer space – China’s scientific ambitions are immense.

Pluto’s Sputnik Planum explained
The spectacular, flat landscape that dominates the left side of Pluto’s icy “heart” can now be explained, say scientists.

Alma telescope peers into space from Chile’s mountains
Single telescope of revolutionary design, composed of 66 high-precision antennas located at 5,000m altitude on the Chajnantor plateau.

Onboard camera captures SpaceX rocket landing
An onboard camera has captured the successful landing of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, returning from space after launching an Asian communications satellite.