A Soyuz space capsule carrying a three-man multinational crew touched down safely Sunday on the southern steppes of Kazakhstan, bringing an end to their 193-day mission to the International Space Station.

More clues are expected next week in the worldwide hunt for an elusive sub-atomic particle, the Higgs boson, that is the missing piece in the standard model of physics.

Sometimes referred to as the "God particle" because it seems to be everywhere, the Higgs boson is believed to give objects mass, but physicists armed with the world's most potent atom-smashers have yet to identify it.

Serbian archaeologists have discovered the remains of at least seven mammoths at a dig at an open pit mine, which could turn out to be a mammoth cemetery, lead archaeologist Miomir Korac told Agence France Presse Friday.

"We are at the start of the excavations. We first found the remains of one mammoth and then every 30 meters or so the bones of six more animals at the same depth," said Korac, who leads the team carrying out the dig.

Scientists working with Greenpeace will undertake an expedition to the Arctic that will produce the first 3D models of the Arctic sea ice, the group said on Friday.

The team was due to leave on Friday for the icy north from the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.

An experimental solar-powered plane, flying without using any fuel, arrived late Friday in Rabat on a return journey to Switzerland after its successful flight over the Moroccan desert.

The Swiss-made Solar Impulse took off from Quarzazate in southern Morocco at 0733 GMT, and touched down in the Moroccan capital at 2320 GMT, to applause from the Solar Impulse team and Moroccan officials.

Scientists were at a loss Friday to explain the mysterious deaths of more than 70 green turtles that have washed up on beaches in northeast Australia over the last week.

Queensland state authorities said 62 of the vulnerable species were confirmed dead and another 10 were spotted floating at sea by a helicopter.

A cutting-edge battery that can be spray-painted on just about any surface was unveiled Thursday by a research team that tested it on everything from bathroom tiles to a beer mug.

The design could revolutionize the design of lithium-ion batteries that power our laptops, mobile phones and electric cars -- leading to slimmer, lighter devices with built-in power supplies.

A private company made up of former NASA astronauts and U.S. scientists said Thursday it is planning to build and launch its own space telescope to track dangerous asteroids and protect the Earth.

The project by the B612 Foundation aims to launch the "first privately funded deep space mission -- SENTINEL -- a space telescope to be placed in orbit around the sun."

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after achieving China's most complex and longest operations in orbit, major steps forward in the country's effort to build a space station by 2020.

The return of the trio, including the country's first female astronaut, to a landing zone in a remote and sandy area of northern China was broadcast to a national audience on state television network CCTV.

The United States has shelved plans for a climate research project based out of Thailand, its embassy said Thursday, after political bickering within the kingdom delayed approval for the scheme.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had planned to use the U-Tapao air base, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Bangkok, for its study of monsoon weather patterns in August and September.