Most Popular Science News

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian authorities Friday issued a shipping alert over a gigantic iceberg that is gradually approaching the country's southwest coast.

COPENHAGEN - After a week of U.N. climate talks, some money is finally on the table and a draft agreement has been circulated. Now the really hard bargaining begins.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - For Indonesian farmers, burning down rain forests is the cheapest and fastest way to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations.

Ancient Greeks living in Sicily built their sacred temples to face the rising sun, new research suggests.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia's new nuclear-capable missile suffered another failed test launch, the defence ministry said Thursday, solving the mystery of a spectacular plume of white light that appeared over Norway.

It may not sound like "tree-hugging," but cutting down a real tree for Christmas is actually greener than going with the artificial kind, one scientist says.

The pure white snow atop the Andes Mountains may not be so pure after all. Scientists have found traces of toxic pollutants called PCBs in snow samples taken from Aconcagua Mountain, the highest peak in the Americas.

At least 1,250 species of catfish are venomous, a new study finds.

WASHINGTON - Newly described dinosaur fossils from New Mexico are helping scientists better understand the early development of these ancient creatures. The 6-to-12 foot-long, meat-eating creature, Tawa hallae, is described in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

PASADENA, Calif. - A faulty wheel on the Mars rover Spirit is complicating efforts to free it from a sand trap where it has been stuck for the past eight months.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - For Indonesian farmers, burning down rain forests is the cheapest and fastest way to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations.

Ancient Greeks living in Sicily built their sacred temples to face the rising sun, new research suggests.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Friday hit back at critics accusing it of dragging its feet on climate change, saying it had to ensure economic development as the industrial collapse after the Soviet Union's fall had to be taken into account.

WASHINGTON - Two senators on Friday offered yet another approach to tackling climate change, proposing the government sell pollution allowances to industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions and then use most of the money to send tax-free monthly checks to every American.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Farmers in the Northern Plains use considerably more water to produce a gallon of corn ethanol than growers in other parts of the country, according to a new government report examining whether increased biofuels use could drain the nation's water resources.

THE HAGUE (AFP) - Anglo-Dutch food and cosmetics giant Unilever said Friday it was severing ties with an Indonesian palm oil supplier accused by environmental organisation Greenpeace of destroying rainforests.

SAO PAULO (AFP) - Half of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions come from cattle ranchers clearing Amazon jungle for pasture, and from their herds passing methane, a new study prepared for the Copenhagen climate summit say.

At least 1,250 species of catfish are venomous, a new study finds.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Congress has yet to pass a comprehensive plan on climate change but it is taking action on one front -- ordering an in-depth "carbon audit" of the tax code.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European Union nations have agreed to give 7.2 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars) to help developing nations tackle climate change, the Swedish EU presidency announced on Friday.