No, the planets are not going to cause an epic earthquake this week

At the beginning of 2015, we were promised that a rare planetary alignment would cause gravity to briefly fail here on Earth by some people that clearly don't understand this fundamental element of our universe very well. Now the bizarre viral rumor-mongers are at it again, telling us that a different cosmic lineup will trigger a massive earthquake to end the working week a bit early on Thursday evening, May 28.

Bill Nye and Amy Schumer explain universe's role in helping women make decisions

That moment when you know the universe is talking to you.Comedy Central screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

How many times has someone said to you, at an emotionally perilous moment, "This is the universe telling me I should do this"?

The universe sometimes speaks with a forked tongue and a cruel heart.

It twists our lives around in ways that we don't understand until years later. That's when we say to our friends: "That must have been the universe telling me to quit Uber." Or: "I'm sure the universe told me to dump Brad. I just didn't know why it told me that."

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina joins Republican presidential fray

Former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina speaks at a Republican event in Nashua, N.H., on April 18, 2015.Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is running for president, and judging by her own website and her brief history in politics, her time at the computer maker will play a major role in that bid.

Fiorina announced the news on her Twitter account and on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday. In a video posted to her Twitter account, she said that she's seeking the Republican nomination for president because she believes the US "is at a pivotal point."

An old film canister just fetched $13,000 at auction

Film canisters...from SPAAACE.RR Auction

What makes a nearly 50-year-old empty film canister worth over $13,000? Being among the first of canister-kind to make a trip to the moon and back, apparently.

Last week, a Hasselblad film canister that apparently once held film used on the surface of the moon was auctioned off for $13,434.58 (about £8,852, AU$17,176) as part of an auction that included a number of items from NASA's Apollo era. Many of these goods likely wouldn't garner a second look at a yard sale, if not for the extraterrestrial miles they put on.

Rosetta captures the birth of a comet dust jet

Before and after the dust jet emerges from the comet underside.ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is one busy bundle of ice and rock. It doesn't just sit there like a lump in space, but rather emanates jets of dust and plumes of vapor. The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is witnessing this activity and giving us some exciting images of material streaming off the comet's surface. A newly released image shows the rare moment when a fresh dust jet emerges.

Google joins the search for Loch Ness Monster, may have found it (or not)

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Is he out there? Or is it a she?Google/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

What better way to advertise that you're a search giant than to search for a giant?

I feel sure some bright light at Google HQ uttered that line and was immediately promoted.

Google is experiencing choppy waters in Europe. So why not curry a little local favor by helping to find a legendary sea monster that everyone believes exists? Well, everyone after 10 pints of Scottish ale.

'Thor's Helmet' is a strikingly beautiful, messy nebula

With a blue dome made from X-rays and wings created by superheated gas, nebula NGC 2359 is a fitting tribute to a certain Norse god.J.A. Toala & M.A. Guerrero (IAA-CSIC), Y.-H. Chu (UIUC/ASIAA), R.A. Gruendl (UIUC), S. Mazlin, J. Harvey, D. Verschatse & R. Gilbert (SSRO-South) and ESA

With "Avengers: Age of Ultron" set to debut in just a few days in the UK, perhaps the European Space Agency has caught a touch of superhero fever. Surely that must be why ESA just chose a nebula known as "Thor's Hammer" (or much more boringly as NGC 2359) as a featured space science image on its website.

Adios, silicon: Why exotic designs are the future for the chips in your gadgets

IBM is working on processors whose circuitry uses a form of carbon called graphene. There are many technical challenges making them practical, though.IBM

Most of us assume that smartphones and laptops will keep getting faster and better.

But that progress could come to an end in about a decade.

That's when engineers will hit the limits of cramming atom-scale circuitry onto conventional silicon chips, the brains behind every computing device today. That means the iPhone 11 you get in 2024 will be about as good as it gets.

How ancient 'zombie worms' screwed up valuable fossils

A sqadron of Osedax worms chowing down on a whale bone.Plymouth University

In 2002, biologist Robert Vrijenhoek from The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute was searching for deep-sea clams in Monterey Canyon when he came upon strange red worms feeding on a whale carcass. After some lab work, Vrijenhoek and his fellow researchers determined that he had discovered a brand new species of worm, which he called Osedax, and popular culture quickly called it the "zombie worm" because of its penchant for devouring bones. (Yes, you and I both know zombies eat brains, but there you have it.)

Liquid water on Mars right under rover's nose?

At long last, researchers on the Curiosity Mars rover's science team believe they have evidence that there is liquid water on the Red Planet, lurking just beneath the surface of our neighbor's rouge surface. The water in the Martian soil seems to gather intermittently and is a very salty brine, making it perhaps suitable for everyone's favorite retro pet -- sea monkeys! Very, very hearty sea monkeys that could withstand the superharsh environment on the fourth planet, that is.

The fastest star in the galaxy propelled by thermonuclear supernova

Artist's impression of a star flung out of a galaxy by a supernova. In reality, the supernova would have long since subsided.ESA/Hubble

Hurtling through space at a speed of 1,200 kilometres per second (about 2.7 million mph), star US 708 is the fastest star in the Milky Way. Its speed is so fast that it is classified as an "unbound" or hypervelocity star -- so fast that its speed exceeds the escape velocity of gravity, and fast enough to one day leave the galaxy.

Watch NASA test-fire the most powerful rocket booster ever built

A successful test-firing of the rocket booster for NASA's Space Launch System, or SLS.NASA

In the coming decades, NASA is planning to lasso an asteroid and eventually launch a manned mission to Mars thanks to the firepower of its new Space Launch System, which is basically the polite name for what would be better called "this kick-ass new monster we built."

One of Saturn's moons might have warm enough water for life, research shows

This artist's rendering shows how thermal activity on Enceladus might be spewing dust into space that eventually falls into orbit around Saturn.NASA/JPL-Caltech

In 2004, Cassini, the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever launched by NASA, arrived in orbit around Saturn. Since then, it's sent back oodles of information about the planet and some of its attendant moons. Now, thanks to the spacecraft, scientists believe that Saturn's moon Enceladus might have never-before-confirmed thermal activity on its ocean floor which could make the conditions right for life.

Fire the electrospray thrusters! Tiny module could drive small satellites

Small satellites may soon get a boost from new propulsion chips that are about the size of a penny.Accion Systems

Small, low-cost satellites are growing in importance for communications, research and exploration. But according to MIT aeronautics and astronautics alum Natalya Brikner in a report just released by MIT, the problem with lots of small satellites is that they have no proper means of propulsion, so they can't control where their cameras point, and, after whizzing around the planet for a few months, they eventually fall into the atmosphere and burn up.

Raspberry Pi stars in UK spy agency's mini supercomputer

The GCHQ's Raspberry Pi Bramble cluster has 64 computing nodes and two control nodes.GCHQ

Most people use the $35 Raspberry Pi computerfor its intended purpose, as a cheap machine good for education and experimentation. But the UK's Government Communications Headquarters has leveled up by interlinking 66 of the diminutive devices into a single computing cluster.

The spy agency unveiled the GCHQ Raspberry Pi Bramble at the Big Bang Fair for young engineers and scientists -- the target market for the Raspberry Pi project. It consists of eight groups of eight Raspberry Pi machines, all linked over a network and controlled by two central Raspberry Pi machines.

Wearables at war: How smart textiles are lightening the load for soldiers

Wearable technology can help soldiers who go through more batteries than bullets.Oleg Zabielin/Shutterstock

LONDON -- If you thought your Fitbit, Samsung Gear or Apple Watch was a bit fiddly, imagine using a wearable while "holding a rifle, in the dark, when you're being shot at." That's the challenge facing companies building wearables for the military in a world of high-tech modern warfare that goes through more batteries than bullets.

Flying bee robot uses an insect-inspired eye

Expert & Ruffier (ISM, CNRS/AMU)

In order to remain upright, living creatures rely on their senses; in humans, balance is maintained using a combination of fluids in the inner ear, vision, and something called proprioception -- the body's sense of where it is in space. It's a finely tuned system -- and, like many biological systems, difficult to replicate in robots.

Our new neighbours: Rare dwarf galaxies found orbiting the Milky Way

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, near which the satellites were found.European Southern Observatory

The Milky Way galaxy now officially has new neighbours. Nine dwarf satellites, including three tiny galaxies, in orbit around our home galaxy were spotted by astronomers at the University of Cambridge in the skies of the southern hemisphere. The galaxies were found near the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud -- the two largest and most well-known dwarf galaxies in orbit around the Milky Way.

Paper notebook uploads to cloud, erases in microwave

Write on! The icons at the bottom of each page are what make the Rocketbook a notebook for the 21st century.Rocketbook

Although thumb-typing on smartphones and stylus-scribbling on tablets have their place, sometimes nothing quite beats the satisfaction of writing in an actual paper notebook. The Rocketbook, currently scorching its way through an Indiegogo campaign, combines the satisfaction of a paper notebook with the backup power of the cloud. And if you use the right pen, then when you're done using it, you can stick it in the microwave to erase your notes and start all over again.

Naked Venus: What it looks like under its cloud clothes

The image of Venus was created with radar data collected in 2012.NRAO/AUI/NSF, Arecibo

Venus is a shy planet that hangs out in the solar system, 25 million miles away from Earth. When seen from a ground telescope here, it looks like a clouded marble. The surface is hidden away under a thick coating of carbon-dioxide clouds.