The outdated 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act considers e-mail "abandoned" and searchable if it's stored for more than 180 days on a server. Larry Greenemeier reports

A side benefit of NASA's Curiosity rover mission is that we now know about how much radiation an interplanetary traveler would face. John Matson reports

Researchers combine an iPhone with optical filters to create a handheld analyzer for toxins, bacteria and other items of public health importance. Larry Greenemeier reports

Isotopic analysis of water trapped in volcanic glass in lunar samples show that the moon has more water than thought, and the water there and on Earth had the same origins. Karen Hopkin reports

An industry report says there is no good technological reason for Amazon and Apple to restrict readers to their formats. Larry Greenemeier reports

After nine (Earth) years of slowly traversing Mars, Opportunity broke the U.S. off-world rover record held by Apollo 17's lunar buggy since 1972. John Matson reports.

Consumers were victims of nearly 290,000 online frauds and lost more than $525 million in 2012, up 8 percent from 2011. Larry Greenemeier reports

Silicon-rich rocky material was found around white dwarfs in the Hyades star cluster by the Hubble Space Telescope, despite the fact that almost no known planets exist in star clusters. John Matson reports

One in six high school students report being victimized via e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, Web sites or texting. Larry Greenemeier reports

Based on the Milky Way's effect on the motion of a nearby dwarf galaxy, our galaxy seems to have more mass than we previously thought. John Matson reports