Science - AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama sought to boost hopes of a landmark deal at the Copenhagen climate summit, as a new report showed the crisis facing the planet is deeper than previously thought.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Nearly a quarter of India's land mass is desert or is turning into desert, according to a study published Wednesday, with deforestation and overgrazing among the main factors spurring the process.

TOKYO (AFP) - Australia's venomous redback spiders are on the march in Japan, where they are believed to have arrived years ago as stowaways on cargo ships, a wildlife expert warned Wednesday.

WELLINGTON (AFP) - New Zealand's parliament Wednesday approved a scheme aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, but critics immediately said it did not go far enough in the fight against global warming.

PARIS (AFP) - The planet could warm by seven degrees Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and sea levels could rise by more than a metre (3.25 feet) by 2100, scenarios that just two years ago were viewed as improbable, scientists said on Tuesday.

GHOR HADITHA, Jordan (AFP) - The Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world's lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say.

TOFTE, Norway (AFP) - Norway unveiled the world's first osmotic power plant on Tuesday, harnessing the energy-unleashing encounter of freshwater and seawater to make clean electricity.

CANBERRA (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged parliament Tuesday to approve legislation aiming to slash carbon pollution by up to 25 percent by 2020 ahead of next month's global talks on climate change.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian wildlife authorities are using electronic implants to keep track of orangutans in a bid to protect the endangered apes after they are freed into the wild, an official has said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A network of valleys discovered on Mars show that the red planet was likely once covered by a vast ocean that fed a humid, rainy climate, according to research published Monday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama sought Tuesday to boost hopes of a landmark deal at the Copenhagen climate summit, as a new report showed the crisis facing the planet is deeper than previously thought.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as profligately as Americans, according to a report issued Tuesday.

BEIJING (AFP) - China called on the European Union Tuesday to step up cooperation on climate change, saying global warming would be at the top of the agenda at next week's China-EU summit.

BEIJING (AFP) - China, a massive consumer of fossil fuels and coal in particular, is trying to modernise its mines by containing emissions of methane and turning the toxic gas into a source of much-needed energy.

GENEVA (AFP) - Two circulating beams on Monday produced the first particle collisions in the world's biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), three days after its restart, scientists announced.

THE HAGUE (AFP) - A Boeing 747, one of four engines powered by a 50-percent biokerosene mix, circled the Netherlands for an hour on Monday for what airline KLM called the world's first passenger flight using biofuel.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States will announce a target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions before the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, removing a major obstacle to a deal, a senior official said Monday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of animal species thrive in the ocean depths beyond the reach of sunlight, between 200 to 5,000 meters below the surface, an international team of scientists has reported after nearly 10 years of research.

SYDNEY (AFP) - More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.

GENEVA (AFP) - Greenhouse gas emissions have kept increasing, reaching a record level since the pre-industrial era, the UN climate agency warned Monday, just weeks before a crucial climate change summit.

PARIS (AFP) - Tackling climate change should also include providing low-carbon energy to the poor, UN agencies said Monday, pointing out that almost one third of the world?s population remains in the dark at night.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Astronauts from the US shuttle Atlantis Monday concluded the third and final spacewalk of their mission to maintain and install more high-tech equipment on the International Space Station.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A new detailed map of Mars shows what was likely a vast ocean in the north and valleys around the equator, suggesting that the planet once had a humid, rainy climate, according to research published Monday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday that the emerging economy was ready to do more on climate change if developed nations make financial commitments.

BEIJING (AFP) - Poor visibility delayed about 280 domestic and international flights serving Beijing on Wednesday, the capital's airport said, following several days of heavy air pollution.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is to announce concrete targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as pressure mounts on polluters to find a formula for success two weeks ahead of a crucial climate summit.

GENEVA (AFP) - Two circulating beams on Monday produced the first particle collisions in the world's biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), three days after its restart, scientists announced.

GENEVA (AFP) - The world's biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, began firing beams of protons in opposite directions on Monday, with scientists describing initial progress as an "enormous success."