Fresh off a yearlong, record-breaking mission at the International Space Station, America's star astronaut Scott Kelly announced his retirement after 20 years with NASA. But the 52-year-old isn't done with the agency just yet.

Besides debriefings and medical tests, Kelly said he plans to keep working for NASA, though not as an astronaut.

"NASA will only have to pay me $10 an hour instead of $70 an hour, so they're getting a good deal," Kelly said. "This just allows me to meet my NASA responsibilities, but do other things."

The astronaut said he doesn't have a full-time job lined up yet despite plenty of offers.

"I even told my bosses that I'd love to work as a part-timer," Kelly said, perhaps as a contractor flying NASA planes. "I would love to stay as involved with human spaceflight as I can. I'm a huge believer in it."

Bacteria found that eats plastic

A team of Japanese scientists has found a species of bacteria that eats the type of plastic found in most disposable water bottles.

The discovery, published in the journal Science, could lead to new methods to manage the more than 50 million tons of this particular type of plastic produced globally each year.

The plastic found in water bottles is known as polyethylene terephalate, or PET. It is also found in polyester clothing, frozen-dinner trays and blister packaging. It is also notoriously resistant to being broken down by microbes — what experts call "biodegradation."

The researchers report that a community of the bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis working this way could break down a thin film of PET over the course of six weeks if the temperature were held at a steady 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cape Cod Bay attracts right whales

Cape Cod is seeing a lot more of some singularly welcome tourists: endangered right whales enticed by the fine dining possibilities of its plankton-rich bay.

Experts tracking the majestic marine mammals — among the rarest creatures on the planet — say nearly half the estimated global population of 500 or so animals has been spotted in Cape Cod Bay over the past few springs.

They're back again in what looks like record numbers, thrilling amateur photographers and scientists still anguishing over their future.

For a stretch in the late 1990s, fewer than 30 whales were sighted each year, said Charles "Stormy" Mayo, of the Center for Coastal Studies.

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