Getting pruney fingers from soaking in the bath is an evolutionary advantage, for it helps us get a better grip on objects under water, scientists suggested on Wednesday.

Digit puckering was long thought to be caused by a swelling of the outer layers of skin on the fingertips and toes, but recent research showed it was actually a nervous system response to immersion in water.

The United States of America set an off-the-charts heat record in 2012.

A brutal combination of a widespread drought and a mostly absent winter pushed the average annual U.S. temperature last year up to 55.32 degrees Fahrenheit (13 Celsius), the government announced Tuesday. That's a full degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) warmer than the old record set in 1998.

Hideaki Kato discovered his true identity by accident.

During his medical training a decade ago, the now 39-year-old Japanese doctor was performing blood tests on family members when he learned something startling: his dad was not his biological father.

The US Supreme Court declined Monday to enter the emotionally-charged debate over stem cell research, refusing to hear an appeal centered on the issue of federal government funding.

The top US court did not give a reason for its decision, which ends the long judicial saga over President Barack Obama's 2009 executive order lifting restrictions on financing imposed by his predecessor George W. Bush.

Extreme heat in Australia forced the government's weather bureau to upgrade its temperature scale Tuesday, with new colors on the climate map to reflect new highs forecast next week.

Central Australia was shown with a purple area on the latest Bureau of Meteorology forecast map issued for next Monday, a new color code suggesting temperatures will soar above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

It's a six-month expedition in almost constant darkness, in the coldest place on the planet, with no chance of rescue if things go wrong. British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes calls it one of the last remaining polar challenges: crossing Antarctica during the region's winter.

Against the backdrop of Cape Town's majestic Table Mountain, Fiennes, 68, and his five-member team left the South African port city on Monday aboard a South African polar vessel, the SA Agulhas, for what they have dubbed "The Coldest Journey."

A new estimate released Monday suggests that the Milky Way galaxy is home to at least 17 billion planets similar in size to Earth.

It doesn't mean all are potentially habitable, but the sheer number is a welcome starting point in the search for worlds like our own.

Adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes said Sunday his bid for the world's first Antarctic winter crossing, with no option of rescue, would be a trip into the unknown despite his multiple record expeditions.

Known as the world's greatest living explorer, Fiennes will depart Monday for the coldest place on Earth.

Scientists and broadcasters said Monday they have captured footage of an elusive giant squid up to eight meters (26 feet) long that roams the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Japan's National Science Museum succeeded in filming the deep-sea creature in its natural habitat for the first time, working with Japanese public broadcaster NHK and the U.S. Discovery Channel.

Scientific experts have greenlighted the restart of two Belgian nuclear power plants despite signs of micro-cracks in reactor vessels, the daily Le Soir said Saturday.

No independent confirmation was immediately available from Belgium's nuclear safety authority, AFCN.