A 16-metre southern right whale, which has enthralled watchers off Sydney’s beaches this week, has given birth to a ‘big bouncing baby’ and is spending the night with her newborn calf in Sydney harbour.

Nasa has outlined the agency’s next moves towards finding life beyond Earth, an ongoing journey that involves a number of current and future telescopes. Speaking at a public talk held at Nasa headquarters in Washington, experts from the space agency and its partner institutions added that finding intelligence outside our planet is within reach.

General Electric is taking a “small step” into sneaker design to commemorate the role — or rather, sole — it had in mankind’s first “giant leap” on the moon.

State and federal health officials reported Thursday the first locally acquired cases of a mosquito-borne virus known as chikungunya that causes intense joint pain and high fever, and has been spreading throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America. Florida officials reported two cases, one in Miami Dade County and the other in Palm Beach County. The Centers for Disease …

State health officials say they have detected Eastern Equine Encephalitis in a mosquito pool collected in Bridgewater. The Department of Public Health said the pool was collected on July 15.

Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. has recovered more than 13,500 silver and gold coins, and gold ingots, or oblong blocks, from the SS Central America. The Central American ship was a California Gold Rush ship that was caught in a hurricane in 1857 and sank 160 miles off the coast of South Carolina, according to a statement.

Amazon now offers an e-book subscription service. It’s the latest and largest company to do so. It’s called Kindle Unlimited. You pay a monthly fee for access to over a half-million digital and audio books. Of course that’s only a small amount compared to all the Kindle books for sale on Amazon’s online store. Amazon is promoting Kindle Unlimited with …

Shakira is officially the most liked person on Facebook after becoming the first person ever to reach 100 million likes. The superstar songstress hit the staggering social media milestone on Friday and was clearly delighted with the news.

Mysterious ‘gigantic’ hole in remote region spotted by helicopters over gas-rich Yamal peninsula. The striking puncture in the earth is believed to be up to 80 metres wide but its depth is not estimated yet. A scientific team has been sent to investigate the hole and is due to arrive at the scene on Wednesday. The cause of its sudden …

A high ranking staffer for Tom Marino was arrested Friday morning, on charges of carrying a 9mm handgun and magazine into the Cannon Office Building, Capitol police said. At about 9:15 a.m., said officer Shennell Antrobus, USCP arrested Ryan Shucard, Marino’s press secretary.

A new study suggests that smoking is not only bad for physical health, it may also be bad for mental health. Researchers say there’s a link between smoking and suicide; states that imposed cigarette excise taxes and smoke-free air regulations ended up having lower adjusted suicide rates than did states with fewer anti-smoking initiatives.