Astronomers said Wednesday they have found a lonely planet outside the solar system floating alone in space and not orbiting a star.

The gaseous exoplanet, dubbed PSO J318.5-22, is just 80 light years from Earth and has a mass only six times that of Jupiter. Having formed 12 million years ago, the planet is considered a newborn among its peers.

Minamata was the site of Japan's worst ever industrial poisoning and is regarded as the dark side of Japan's rapid modernization during the 20th Century.

For decades, a synthetic resin factory run by chemical company Chisso Corp had been dumping methylmercury into the bay of the town on southwestern Kyushu island, poisoning the marine habitat.

Three years ago, French researchers declared that a centuries-old mummified head was that of the beloved King Henri IV. But now a new study says, "Non!"

The original conclusion was based largely on facial reconstruction techniques and signs the skull had injuries similar to those suffered by the monarch. The new study looked at DNA instead.

A NASA spacecraft bound for Jupiter will swing by Earth on Wednesday to get the boost it needs to arrive at the giant gas planet in 2016.

Using Earth as a gravitational slingshot is a common trick since there isn't a rocket that's powerful enough to catapult a spacecraft directly to the outer solar system.

The government shutdown in Washington has forced U.S. bases half a world away in Antarctica to suspend research as they go into "caretaker" mode, the National Science Foundation (NSF)said Wednesday.

In an unprecedented development that scientists described as "tragic", the U.S.-based foundation said logistical support funding for the US Antarctic Program (USAP) will dry up early next week and contractors have been ordered to scale back operations.

The Nobel Prize in Physics should also have gone to the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, a member of the awarding committee said Wednesday.

"I think it's wrong," Anders Barany, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences told Agence France Presse, commenting after the decision Tuesday, which was delayed for an hour due to "a lot of discussion."

British scientist Peter Higgs said he was "overwhelmed" after he and Belgium's Francois Englert were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their work on the Higgs Boson particle.

"I am overwhelmed to receive this award and thank the Royal Swedish Academy," Higgs, 84, said in a statement released by Edinburgh University, where he is emeritus professor of theoretical physics.

Japanese adults are way ahead in math and literacy skills than their peers in 23 other countries, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published Tuesday.

The study, conducted in 22 OECD member states as well as Russia and Cyprus, involved tests on 166,000 people aged between 16 and 65.

Environmental campaigners WWF filed a complaint on Monday against a British oil company accused of intimidating the local population and endangering wildlife in the oldest nature reserve in Africa.

The wildlife charity claims that Soco International's oil exploration activities in and around Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo put "people, animals and habitats at risk" and violate international guidelines issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a complaint to that organisation.

Three American winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday said scientific progress in the United States is in peril due to unprecedented funding cuts and ideological challenges.

The scientists were honored for their work on how cells organize their cargo and move molecules -- a process that contributes to normal body and brain function but is also at the root of neurological diseases, diabetes, and immune disorders.