NEWSWORTHY
The first formal count of polar bears in waters between the United States and Russia indicates they are doing better than some of their cousins elsewhere. Polar bears are listed as a threatened species because of diminished sea ice due to climate change. But university ...
Houston skyscrapers may have snagged Hurricane Harvey, causing it to dump extra rain: studies
Humans helped make recent devastating U.S. hurricanes wetter but in different ways, two new studies find. Hurricane Harvey snagged on the skyscrapers of Houston, causing it to slow and dump more rain than it normally would, one study found. The city's massive amounts of paving ...
A surfer fought off a shark with his board after being bitten in the leg Wednesday on Australia's east coast, authorities said, just days after a swimmer died in another attack. The 43-year-old was surfing off popular tourist spot Shelly Beach in Ballina, 750 kilometers ...
Plans for in Antarctic ocean sanctuary, world's largest, blocked by Russia, China and Norway
A plan to create the world's largest marine sanctuary in Antarctic waters has been shot down when a key conservation summit failed to reach a consensus, with environmentalists on Saturday decrying a lack of scientific foresight. Member states of the organization tasked with overseeing the ...
Scientists launch plan to map genes of all complex life on earth
Scientists launched a vast project on Thursday to map the genetic code of all 1.5 million known species of complex life on Earth, aiming to complete the work within a decade. They described the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) as "the next moonshot for biology" after ...
Handful of nations hold fate of world's vanishing wilderness
More than 70 percent of Earth's last untouched wilderness lies in the territories of just five countries, scientists said Wednesday — mostly nations that alarm environmentalists with their lukewarm response to climate change. True wild spaces — land and sea areas mostly unaffected by mankind's ...
Birds have more in common with dinosaurs than previously thought — they inherited colored eggs directly from their scaly ancestors, according to research released Wednesday. The evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds has been recognized for centuries, but ornithologists long believed that birds evolved their ...
Two male penguins who paired up as a "same-sex couple" have incubated a baby chick and are "doting" on their tiny offspring, an Australian aquarium announced Friday. Gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic are happily "taking turns caring for their baby chick," born on October 19 ...
Three members of an Australian family used a broom and a shovel to fight off a rare attack by a large kangaroo that left all of them injured, one seriously. Linda Smith, 64, suffered a collapsed lung, broken ribs, cuts and other internal injuries, and ...
A wildlife ranger was killed by a crocodile Friday in Australia's Northern Territory. The indigenous woman was attacked in a remote location 206 kilometers (128 miles) southwest of the indigenous community of Yirrkala. Her body later was recovered by police. Police said she had been fishing "waist-deep" ...
As the world's microbial diversity is decimated by antibiotics, processed food, filtered water and other wonders of modern life, researchers are proposing the creation of a global microbiota vault to protect the long-term health of humanity. Human microbiota, a community of trillions of microorganisms that ...
