WASHINGTON — America's next daring adventure on Mars — a one-ton rolling science laboratory scheduled to launch next October — is in deep trouble.

Huge cost overruns and technical difficulties may cause the $2 billion dollar Mars Science Laboratory to be delayed or cancelled outright, members of a NASA advisory committee were warned last week.

"Our problem is enormous," said Jim Green, director of the space agency's Planetary Science Division, as project costs soar up to 40 percent above budget. » read more

WASHINGTON — When the huge subatomic-particle smasher under the Swiss-French border starts running, it's supposed to reveal what happened the instant after the big bang, the theoretical beginning of our universe 13.7 billion years ago.

The Large Hadron Collider, which suffered a temporary setback last week, might find some answers. But it will leave other questions on many people's minds, such as what happened BEFORE the big bang, and even whether there was a "before."

A scientific mini-industry has popped up as deep-thinking physicists and cosmologists bat around various guesses as to what may have happened in a "pre-big bang.'' » read more