NASA is designing a pair of robotic probes to keep tabs on how the planet is changing and to help forecasters predict natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides.

Apple just made playing iPhone and iPod Touch games with other people a whole lot easier with the launch of its Game Center application. And it may just change the way we play games on our iDevices.

Never mind global warning! Given the cavalcade of studies — specious or otherwise — revealing how Facebook is destroying humanity, we probably won't be around for the worst of it.

By tasting a little bit of the rocks and air on Mars, NASA's robotic Phoenix lander discovered secrets about the history of water on the Red Planet over the last 4 billion years, scientists now reveal.

Science editor Alan Boyle's weblog: Scientists and sports stars are taking the field with a 10-part series that explains the physics and biology behind football.

When oceanographer David Gallo stepped out onto his ship, floating above the resting place of the RMS Titanic, he spotted evidence of a different kind of tragedy — a lone plastic bag floating in the water.

If a volcano with the explosive power of 600,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs blew up on a planet 30 light-years away, would we notice?

At least eight new kinds of Earth's earliest animals from the mysterious and controversial Cambrian Explosion have been discovered in a unexpected section of ancient rock 30 miles from the famous Burgess Shale of Canada. The discovery suggests such old, rare fossils are more common than previously thought.

Cattle infected with mad cow disease give off a tell-tale glow in their eyes, according to new research published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

To woo females, bowerbird males create optical illusions that make themselves look larger than they  are, much like the ones used in the "Lord of the Rings" films to make actors look hobbit-size.

Apple just made playing iPhone and iPod Touch games with other people a whole lot easier with the launch of its Game Center application. And it may just change the way we play games on our iDevices.

While Major League Baseball clings to century-old conventions and FIFA puts on soccer matches recognizable to a Victorian audience, the National Football League  has made incorporating new technology a key component of its operations.

Archaeologists are still debating whether or not the peoples who inhabited the Amazon before the Europeans arrived built complex settlements and roads. The debate could play a role in the Amazon's future.

Developers at Valve say they've never seen players respond to one of their games quite like they have 'Portal.' The space-manipulating puzzle game was loved and lauded the world over when it launched in 2007. Now the developers are hard at work on the sequel. And they know they've got a lot to live up to.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: An African-American uses DNA testing to trace his heritage back to Cameroon ... and is welcomed as a long-lost relative by the country's royalty.

From Spartans to Spiderman this is your month in video games for September. Msnbc.com's Todd Kenreck reports. (MSNBC)

Microsoft says it will apologize to a small West Virginia town as well as a 26-year-old gamer it booted from Xbox Live. The player was suspended from the online gaming service after he announced he lived in the city of Fort Gay. A customer service rep thought the name was an offensive slur. Turns out, he was wrong.

Science editor Alan Boyle's weblog: NASA's Opportunity rover sends back a 3-D postcard as it passes the halfway point in its 12-mile journey to Endeavour Crater.