The behemoth weighs 18 billion Suns - as much as a small galaxy - and provides a new testing ground for general relativity

The dynamics of earthquakes and seizures are similar, say researchers - the finding could lead to new ways of predicting the attacks

More support staff drafted over password reset cockup

Fasthosts has promised it will bring in more support staff to deal with the volume of calls it is still receiving following its poorly-handled password reset on Friday.

Commies get nukes, sat-kill lasers, 'electromagnetic dominance' virus units

A Pentagon report into Chinese military capability says that the People's Republic "is expanding from the traditional land, air, and sea dimensions of the modern battlefield to include space and cyber-space."

In a night sky filled with hungry bats, good-tasting moths increase their chances of survival by mimicking the sounds of their bad-tasting cousins, according to a new study. This is the first research to definitively show how an animal species uses acoustic mimicry as a defensive strategy.

Evidence is accumulating that depression is a risk factor for osteoporosis. A recent study found that people ages 50 and over who regularly took antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors had double the rate of fractures as people not using such medications. Other research points to depression itself as a source of endocrine changes that can damage bone.

A child who is beginning to walk will show a decreased interest in play. When a child begins to walk, the way in which he experiences his environment changes. This change may be manifested in the way he plays. Study results revealed a tendency to a decrease in the child's level of persistence, concentration and attentiveness at the onset of walking in comparison to the pre-walking stage.

The sharpest image ever taken of the large "grand design" spiral galaxy M81 has just been released. This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a "birds-eye view" of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. Though the galaxy is 11.6 million light-years away, NASA Hubble Space Telescope's view is so sharp that it can resolve individual stars, along with open star clusters, globular star clusters, and even glowing regions of fluorescent gas.

A newly discovered dwarf galaxy in the Local Group has been found to have formed in a region of space far from our own and is falling into our system for the first time in its history, according to new data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Astronomers report that the dwarf galaxy, Andromeda XII, marks the best piece of evidence for small galaxies which are just now arriving in our Local Group. The finding provides an important test for simulations of galaxy formation.