Government research and development is limited by time, money and bureaucracy. Those limits are prompting federal agencies like NASA to reach out to private companies to drive new innovation and keep costs down.

When it comes to mass extinction events, what seems like a simple tale — for example: dinosaurs die, mammals take over — is much more complicated. But extinctions aren't random, either: Written in the rocks are certain "rules" these events seem to follow.

Some scientists say giant, wedge-shaped sandy deposits on the coast of southern Madagascar are evidence of a giant tsunami spawned by an asteroid strike 10,000 years ago. But new research suggests these deposits were formed by winds, not mega-tsunamis.