Curiosity rover sends back striking images of Mars rock formations

This image take by the Mars Curiosity Rover shows a dramatic hillside outcrop with sandstone layers.  (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

 NASA has released new color images taken by the Curiosity Mars rover, which it says will help increase understanding of the red planet's landscape.

Can We Save Mars From Ourselves?

As more countries and companies send spacecraft to other worlds, scientists are worried about potential contamination risks. Here, NASA's Curiosity rover takes a self-portrait on Mars. (NASA)

Mars has been withstanding human invasion for decades. So far, we've successfully sent six spacecraft to land and take data from the surface and four rovers to drive around, with another orbiter and lander en route. In the next five years, at least three more rovers, two landers and two orbiters are in development with proposals for crewed missions and even permanent settlements not far behind. That’s a lot of interplanetary visitors.

Barack Obama is officially a parasite (it's an honor)

U.S. President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks during a news conference at the Landmark Mekong Riverside Hotel in Vientiane, Laos, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, after attending the ASEAN Summit.

 It's no Nobel Peace Prize, but Barack Obama has a new honor to brag about. Scientists have named a parasite after him — and there's no worming out of it.
Meet Baracktrema obamai, a tiny parasitic flatworm that lives in turtles' blood. A new study officially names the 2-inch, hair-thin creature after Obama.