It's a strange-sounding name for a constellation, coming from the Greco-Roman word for giraffe, or "camel leopard". The October Camelopardalids are a collection of faint stars that have no mythology associated with them - in fact, they didn't begin to appear on star charts until the 17th century.

Even experienced amateur astronomers are hard-pressed to find the constellation in the night sky. But in early October, it comes to prominence in the minds of meteor scientists as they wrestle with the mystery of this shower of meteors, which appears to radiate from the giraffe's innards.

The October Camelopardalids are not terribly spectacular, with only a handful of bright meteors seen on the night of Oct. 5. It may have been first noticed back in 1902, but definite confirmation had to wait until Oct. 2005, when meteor cameras videotaped 12 meteors belonging to the shower.

Moving at a speed of 105,000 miles per hour, Camelopardalids ablate, or burn up, somewhere around 61 miles altitude, according to observations from the NASA allsky meteor cameras on the night of Oct. 5, 2010.

Geologists have found evidence that some 55 million years ago a river as big as the modern Colorado flowed through Arizona into Utah in the opposite direction from the present-day river. Writing in the October issue of the journal Geology, they have named this ancient northeastward-flowing river the California River, after its inferred source in the Mojave region of southern California.

Lead author Steven Davis, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution, and his colleagues discovered the ancient river system by comparing sedimentary deposits in Utah and southwest Arizona.

By analyzing the uranium and lead isotopes in sand grains made of the mineral zircon, the researchers were able to determine that the sand at both localities came from the same source - igneous bedrock in the Mojave region of southern California.

The river deposits in Utah, called the Colton Formation by geologists, formed a delta where the river emptied into a large lake. They are more than 400 miles (700 kilometers) to the northeast of their source in California.

A giant star in a faraway galaxy recently ended its life with a dust-shrouded whimper instead of the more typical bang.

Ohio State University researchers suspect that this odd event -- the first one of its kind ever viewed by astronomers - was more common early in the universe.

It also hints at what we would see if the brightest star system in our galaxy became a supernova.

In a paper published online in the Astrophysical Journal, Christopher Kochanek, a professor of astronomy at Ohio State, and his colleagues describe how the supernova appeared in late August 2007, as part of the Spitzer Space Telescope Deep Wide Field Survey.

The astronomers were searching the survey data for active galactic nuclei (AGN), super-massive black holes at the centers of galaxies. AGN radiate enormous amounts of heat as material is sucked into the black hole. In particular, the astronomers were searching for hot spots that varied in temperature, since these could provide evidence of changes in how the material was falling into the black hole.

The next time you see a dolphin in the ocean, it may be wise to remember that he's not just out for a swim. In fact, he just may be contemplating his next migration.

Scientists have discovered that dolphins are so smart that they can actually ponder the future. Found to be second in intelligence only to man, according to a series of behavioral studies, these mammals have a strong sense of self and distinct personalities, leading researchers to suggest that dolphins be treated as "non-persons." Some are proponents of the fact that these animals should have moral standing and rights to ensure that they are not mistreated.

Even though they travel in pods (ranging from one individual to more than 1,000 dolphins) as opposed to "schools," they can teach each other new behaviors. That's because it has also been learned that dolphins are cultural animals with the ability to solve difficult problems. Research also shows that their cooperation with each other in the wild indicates a high level of emotional sophistication and complex social structures. While the dolphin's use of a type of sonar called echolocation that helps them in their search for food and other objects is well understood by scientists, it has been found that Bottlenose Dolphins are able to extract information about shapes. That implies that they can form a sound picture of their targets called an "echoic image."

According to an article in The Sunday Times in London, a professor of psychology at Hunter College in New York named Diana Reiss conducted a study that proved that dolphins could use a mirror to inspect various parts of their bodies because they possess the ability to recognize their image in it. Reiss also found that, in captivity, these creatures could learn a rudimentary symbol-based language, although in the wild they communicate by body language, whistles and pulsed sounds.

An enormous magnetic filament is perched directly above sunspot 1112 near the sun's southeastern limb. If the filament collapses (as they often do) and hits the sunspot below, the resulting explosion could be impressive. Actually, it's already impressive:

Dutch amateur astronomers Jo Dahlmans and Wouter Verhesen took the picture yesterday using a Lunt solar telescope. "We inverted (made negative) the sun's surface for a stunning display of the snaking filament," says Dahlmans. "In the distance you can see prominences dancing like flames along the limb of the sun. What a vista!"

Readers with solar telescopes, you know what to do.

The geomagnetic storm of Oct. 11th lit up both ends of Earth with bright auroras. Minoru Yoneto sends this picture from Queenstown, New Zealand:

"Lights were spilling out of the sky. It made the Southern Cross look like Niagra Falls," says Yoneto.

The display was triggered by a "south-pointing IMF." In other words, the interplanetary magnetic field near Earth tilted south, opening a crack in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in and fueled a G1-class geomagnetic storm.

Indigenous rangers from the remote community of Kalumburu have discovered what are thought to be four significant ancient rock art sites.

They made the discovery while walking a rugged stretch of their vast Wunambal Gaambera country in the far north Kimberley.

The art - close to the Drysdale River, where tourists visit by helicopter for picnics - includes depictions of Wandjinas, the supreme spirit beings with large mouthless faces and black eyes.

The exact location of the art is being kept secret but the rangers recorded each site on tracking devices and have handed photographs to the Kimberley Land Council in the hope that the art can be fenced to prevent damage from cattle rubbing against the rock walls.

Traces of a previously unknown Bronze Age civilization have been discovered in the peaks of Russia's Caucasus Mountains thanks to aerial photographs taken 40 years ago, researchers said on Monday.

"We have discovered a civilization dating from the 16th to the 14th centuries BC, high in the mountains south of Kislovodsk," in Russia's North Caucasus region, Andrei Belinsky, the head of a joint Russian-German expedition that has been investigating the region for five years, told AFP.

He said researchers had discovered stone foundations, some up to a metre (3.3 feet) high, at nearly 200 sites, all "visibly constructed according to the same architectural plan, with an oval courtyard in the centre, and connected by roads."

The sites are spread over about 100 kilometres (60 miles) between the Kuban river in the west and the city of Nalchik in the east.

The decorations and forms of bronze items found in the area indicate the civilization is linked to the Kuban civilization, which was discovered at the end of the 19th century at the foot of Mount Kazbek and is known for its artistic bronze works.

Our bodies can be controlled by outside forces in the universe, discovers Tom Chivers. So where does that leave free will?

For a man who thinks he's a robot, Professor Patrick Haggard is remarkably cheerful about it. "We certainly don't have free will," says the leading British neuroscientist. "Not in the sense we think." It's quite a way to start an interview.

We're in the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, in Queen Square in London, the nerve centre - if you will - of British brain research. Prof Haggard is demonstrating "transcranial magnetic stimulation", a technique that uses magnetic coils to affect one's brain, and then to control the body. One of his research assistants, Christina Fuentes, is holding a loop-shaped paddle next to his head, moving it fractionally. "If we get it right, it might cause something." She presses a switch, and the coil activates with a click. Prof Haggard's hand twitches. "It's not me doing that," he assures me, "it's her."

The machinery can't force Prof Haggard to do anything really complicated - "You can't make me sign my name," he says, almost ruefully - but at one point, Christina is able to waggle his index finger slightly, like a schoolmaster. It's very fine control, a part of the brain specifically in command of a part of the body. "There's quite a detailed map of the brain's wiring to the body that you can build," he tells me.

Rutgers University physicists have found new properties within a material that could lead to the production of less expensive and more efficient plastic solar cells.

Vitaly Podzorov, co-author of the study and assistant professor of physics at Rutgers University, along with his research team have discovered that organic semiconductors allow energy-carrying particles -- which are created by "packets" of light -- to journey a thousand times farther than researchers previously thought.

"Organic semiconductors are promising for solar cells and other uses, such as video displays, because they can be fabricated in large plastic sheets," said Podzorov. "But their limited photovoltaic conversion efficiency has held them back. We expect our discovery to stimulate further development and progress.

Podzorov and his team came to these conclusions by observing excitons, which are particles that consist of an electron and an electron hole where a positive charge is attributed to the absence of an electron. Excitons form when semiconducting materials absorb photons, which are light particles.