Science comedian Brian Malow is a regular performer on the museum and conference circuit in the United States. He explains why he finds science funny, and how he uses comedy to gain the public's interest

Certain microorganisms from the domain Archaea seem to be big players in the marine carbon and nitrogen cycles. A study linking their abundance in the deep sea to their likely metabolic profile refines this view

A neat technique, applied to the brightest transiting extrasolar planet known, identifies an indisputable signature of water vapour in the planet's atmosphere. The method might be used to probe a nearby habitable world