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LONDON (AFP) - The world's wildlife populations have reduced by around a quarter since the 1970s, according to a major report published Friday by the WWF conservation organization.

PARIS - Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France's Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known.

The universe is twice as bright as it appears, astronomers now suggest.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Chaiten volcano groaned, rumbled and shuddered on Thursday, raising new concerns among authorities, as lightning bolts pierced the huge clouds of hot ash hovering ominously above its crater.

WASHINGTON — With just 12 days to go until its Mars arrival, NASA's Phoenix lander is functioning well and on course to be the first mission to land in the frigid, arctic regions of the red planet, NASA officials said today.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander aims to not flame out when it descends to the arctic surface of the red planet in less than two weeks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An experimental gene therapy treatment appears to have helped eight children with a rare and incurable neurological disorder, although it may have been responsible for the death of one, researchers reported on Tuesday.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Volcanic activity at New Zealand's Mount Ruapehu is increasing and an eruption could occur at any time, scientists warned on Tuesday. The volcano in central North Island, famed as a location in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, last erupted on September 25 2007, spitting 2 meter (6 feet) boulders distances of up to 2 km (1.5 miles).

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US space probe sent to Mars to dig for signs of life is nearing the end of its nine-month voyage and should touch down on the Red Planet on schedule, NASA said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A radar map of the Martian north pole reveals a four-layer ice structure laid down over a period of five million years, on top of sedimentary rocks hundreds of kilometers thick, scientists said Thursday in a report.

The Wildlife Conservation Society has released a list of the "Rarest of the Rare," a dozen animals most in danger of extinction.

LONDON (Reuters) - Governments need to stockpile different sorts of flu drugs -- not just Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu -- to counter the danger of resistance in a pandemic triggered by bird flu, British experts said on Wednesday.

SAN JOSE (AFP) - Costa Rica will plant seven million trees in 2008 to soak up as many greenhouse gas emissions as it produces, in a bid to become the world's first carbon neutral nation, a top official said Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers are baffled after finding an exotic type of star called a pulsar apparently locked in an elongated orbit around a star much like the sun -- an arrangement defying what had been known about such objects.

TOKYO (AFP) - The world's smallest one-man helicopter will soon take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, who is credited with having first thought of a vertical-flight machine, its developer said.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Nine months ago, NASA's Phoenix probe blasted off for Mars with an unprecedented mission to sample water on another world.

TOKYO - A Japanese man who developed the world's smallest helicopter will take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci in tribute to the Renaissance genius' original idea.

Exploring the universe can be as simple as turning on your home computer thanks to a new digital archive filled with views from some of the world's best land- and space-based telescopes.

WASHINGTON - The El Nino phenomenon that has puzzled climate scientists in recent decades may have assisted the first trip around the world nearly 500 years ago.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Astronomers have discovered the most recent supernova in our Milky Way, hoping it will further knowledge about the spectacular stellar explosions and the workings of our galaxy, a research paper said Wednesday.