Astronomers using a powerful Chile-based telescope on Wednesday released a rare image of a spiral shell of cosmic dust and gas surrounding a red giant star.

The discovery marks the first time that scientists have found such a structure and obtained full three-dimensional information about the spiral.

Americans Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka won the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for studies of proteins that let body cells respond to signals from the outside.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the two researchers had made groundbreaking discoveries on an important family of receptors, known as G-protein-coupled receptors.

NASA says a small bright object detected on Mars is likely a piece of plastic from the Curiosity rover.

The six-wheel spacecraft captured an image of the puzzling object Monday after scooping up Martian sand and dust over the weekend.

Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner canceled his planned death-defying 23-mile (37.01-kilometer) free fall Tuesday because of high winds, the second time this week he was forced to postpone his quest to be the first supersonic skydiver.

The former military parachutist from Austria had planned to ride a pressurized capsule carried aloft by a 55-story, ultra-thin helium balloon into the stratosphere, and then jump in a specially designed suit.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will announce the winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday, capping this year's science awards before the Nobel spotlight moves to literature and peace.

Like the other science awards, the chemistry prize normally rewards research done more than a decade ago so the judges have plenty of discoveries to choose from.

Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the U.S. won the Nobel Prize on Tuesday for work in quantum physics that could one day open the way to revolutionary computers.

The pair were honored for pioneering optical experiments in "measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems," the Nobel Physics jury said in its citation.

NASA officials say the Curiosity rover has made its first scoop of the surface of planet Mars and has detected a bright object on the ground.

Officials said in a news release Monday that they suspect the object might be a part of the six-wheeled rover, but they won't sample or scoop anymore until they figure out what it is.

An Austrian daredevil is hoping to make an unprecedented leap from the edge of space Tuesday, setting records as he breaks the speed of sound in freefall in the skies above the U.S. state of New Mexico.

Felix Baumgartner will ascend to 120,000 feet -- nearly 23 miles, or 36 km -- in a capsule taken up to the edge of the stratosphee by a gigantic helium balloon, before stepping out in a pressurized suit to fall back to earth.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, famed for seeking "happiness" for its citizens, is aiming to become the first nation in the world to turn its home-grown food and farmers 100-percent organic.

The tiny Buddhist-majority nation wedged between China and India has an unusual and some say enviable approach to economic development, centered on protecting the environment and focusing on mental well-being.

Research in reprogrammed cells, which on Monday earned the 2012 Nobel Prize, has been hailed as a new dawn for regenerative medicine but remains troubled by several clouds.

Britain's John Gurdon and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka were honored with the world's paramount award in medicine for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).