NASA's new Mars lander has placed a quake monitor on the planet's dusty red surface, just a few weeks after its arrival. It's the first time a robotic arm has lowered an experiment onto the Martian surface. The project's manager called the milestone "an awesome Christmas present."

The Environmental Protection Agency says it is putting off for at least a year any final announcement on a controversial proposal overhauling how the agency evaluates science. Critics say it could bar the use of landmark public health studies.

Retired NASA mathematician Katharine Johnson, who turned 100 last summer, was one of the pioneering black women featured in the book and film "Hidden Figures," in which she was played by Taraji P. Henson.