Science

A European spacecraft launches to perform a crash scene investigation on an asteroid
A NASA spacecraft knocked into an asteroid two years ago to test planetary defense. Now, a new mission will inspect the damage, with the goal of helping future asteroid deflection.
Birders argue over plan to change dozens of bird names
On Thursday, a major birding society will discuss how to go about changing potentially offensive bird names. There's resistance to the original plan to rename all birds named after people.
The slowest of trailblazers: Better DNA testing means trafficked turtles can go home
New technology is making it easier to find the origins of trafficked wildlife so they can be released back to the habitat they came from, instead of languishing for decades as sometimes happens.
A new ‘mini-moon’ comes to Earth this fall
An newly discovered asteroid will be captured by Earth’s gravity this fall. The “mini-moon” will spend about two months in Earth’s orbit, before being flung back on its normal path around the sun.