Plenty of research has shown that learning a second language can boost brainpower, but a new study out Monday suggests that the effects extend to those who begin in middle childhood.

The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that people who began learning English around age 10 and were immersed in the language, meaning they heard and used it in daily life, showed improvements in the structure of the brain's white matter compared to people who grew up speaking only English and did not learn a second language.

Fish exposed to low levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a common chemical used in plastics, canned goods and cash register receipts, showed evidence of hyperactive behavior, according to research published Monday.

However, some experts warned that the results do not prove that the chemical affects humans the same way, and that more research is needed.

SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship arrived Monday at the International Space Station, carrying 2.6 tons of food and supplies for the astronauts at the orbiting research laboratory.

"We have captured Dragon," NASA commentator Rob Navias said as the space station's robotic arm, operated by commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore, grappled the spacecraft at 5:54 am (1054 GMT), according to NASA's television broadcast.

China's bold plan to land an unmanned spaceship on the moon before returning to Earth has moved another step forward with a test craft shifting into lunar orbit to conduct further tests, state media reported Sunday.

The service module of a lunar orbiter that flew back to Earth in November had been sitting in a position that brought in into sync with Earth's orbit, known as the second Lagrange point. It had separated from the orbiter in November.

SpaceX on Saturday blasted off its Falcon 9 rocket on an historic recycling mission, after propelling the Dragon cargo ship toward the International Space Station.

The rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 4:47 am (0947 GMT) and was to be followed minutes later by an attempt to guide the rocket's first stage down to a controlled landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd said Friday it has been chasing a "poaching" ship for three weeks amid heavy ice flows in an attempt to stop the crew from illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean.

Peter Hammarstedt, the captain of Sea Shepherd's lead ship, Bob Barker, said his crew has been pursuing the Nigerian-flagged boat Thunder for 22 days, in what the group said is the world's longest sea chase of an alleged poaching vessel.

In Burkina Faso, what was once stony semi-wasteland is now covered in verdant crop fields, rescued from relentless desertification.

Using simple agricultural techniques largely spread by word-of-mouth, this tiny West African state has rejuvenated vast stretches of scrubby soil over the past 30 years, proving they are not doomed and giving hope to other vulnerable areas in the region.

An ambitious project to put an African spacecraft on the Moon is sputtering on the launchpad as it struggles to secure an Internet crowdfunding lift off.

The Africa2Moon Mission has drawn just $13,000 (11,000 euros) of the initial target of $150,000 with a countdown of only three weeks left before the appeal closes.

NASA's Opportunity rover is soaking in the view from its perch atop a Martian hill as engineers continue to fix a problem with its computer memory.

The aging rover beamed new images to Earth on Wednesday, confirming it reached the hill informally called Cape Tribulation.

Japanese whaling ships set sail for the Antarctic on Thursday on the look out for whales, but only to count them and take skin samples, after a U.N. court ordered an end to the annual hunt.

Two ships -- the 724-ton Yushinmaru and the 747-ton Daini (No 2) Yushinmaru -- weighed anchor from a port in western Shimonoseki city, a major whaling base, a government official said.