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Genes called noncoding genes tell other genes when to switch on and off. New research on this type of gene might explain rapid adaptations like lactose intolerance in humans, the spikes on a fish stickleback and varying colors of flies.

Cats of all sizes have a surprisingly elaborate way of drinking. Fluid mechanics scientists have learned that instead of scooping up water with their tongues, cats delicately flick them on the surface of the water, creating a jet they catch in their mouths.

Scientists have detected a spike in underground rumblings on a section of California's San Andreas Fault that produced a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in 1857. What these mysterious vibrations say about future earthquakes is far from certain.

The persistence of grain bin entrapments and a horrific 2010 incident expose weaknesses in worker safety laws and enforcement. An NPR and Center for Public Integrity analysis has found that among 179 deaths since 1984, fines were reduced 60 percent of the time.

The night before he died, Wyatt Whitebread couldn't stand the thought of going back to the grain bins on the edge of Mount Carroll, Ill.

If Moammar Gadhafi leaves power, there will be many challenges for the rebels to deal with. Leaders of the National Transitional Council say they have a plan for governing Libya, but they're keeping it quiet until Gadhafi is gone. Meanwhile, the rebels are getting on-the-job training running eastern Libya.

San Diego researchers have discovered what they say is a new class of drugs that target malaria. That's hopeful news to the 40 percent of the world's population who live in malaria-infected areas.

A coalition of environmental and farmworker groups said in a lawsuit announced Monday that state pesticide regulators improperly cut off public comment on a controversial agricultural fumigant in order to secure its passage before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's term ended.

The shuttle Endeavour blasted off early Tuesday on what is to be its longest space station mission ever — a 16-day trip to build a Canadian robot and construct part of a Japanese science module. Endeavour's departure marked the second successful launch of a shuttle in just over a month's time.

It was a meteorological mystery: global temperatures hadn't increased dramatically over the Past decade, even though greenhouse gas levels did. It turns out that a temporary decline in water vapor in the Earth's upper atmosphere has been holding global warming in check.