AP - Astronauts tried out the international space station's newest piece of equipment Saturday, but it was a very limited test.

AP - The first sample of Martian dirt dumped onto the opening of the Phoenix lander's tiny testing oven failed to reach the instrument and scientists said Saturday they will devote a few days to trying to determine the cause.

AP - University of Utah geneticist Mario Capecchi got a bonus after winning the Nobel Prize for medicine last fall: He learned he has a younger sister.

AFP - The United States and Asia's four largest powers voiced concern on Saturday after a record spike in oil price as worries grew that energy costs may derail the global economy.

AFP - A French tourist told Saturday how he and four other European divers spent two nights on a deserted Indonesian island eating shellfish and watching for komodo dragons as they awaited rescue.

Reuters - Chinese troops on Saturday eased pressure on a swelling "quake lake" that had threatened hundreds of thousands of people, with water gushing into a man-made sluice in an operation monitored by satellite.

AP - Strong storms smashed houses, deluged neighborhoods and left thousands without power across the Midwest on Friday in the latest round of fierce weather. Hot temperatures baked the region even as residents coped with the lack of electricity.

AP - The space station's huge new Japanese lab got even bigger Friday when the astronauts attached an attic to it for extra storage.

AP - The Phoenix lander is getting ready to sniff the Martian soil for signs of life-friendly elements after scooping up a handful of dirt near the north pole, researchers said Friday.

AP - Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay have been all but wiped out, but amateur conservationists are signing on to the growing hobby of home aquaculture to help bring the struggling bivalves back.

AP - Federal officials have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo.

AFP - Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it had developed a new zero-emission fuel-cell vehicle that has a longer cruising distance than previous models and can operate in freezing temperatures.

AP - More strong thunderstorms were forecast across the nation's heartland Friday as a low pressure system continues it trek across the Plains. Forecasters said the greatest threat for severe weather was in Illinois.