Scientists, self-help gurus, and Greek villagers agree that fire walking doesn't burn. But they part ways on why.

Dozens of federal disaster relief teams have been moved into Gulf Coast states ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The official death toll stood at 180 Thursday morning and is likely to rise.

In Katrina's wake the Web has filled with cries for help, offers of assistance, and strange tales from a devastated Gulf Coast.

Thousands struggled to evacuate hurricane-battered New Orleans as food and water grew scarce and looters raided stores.

A parasitic worm that preys on grasshoppers uses a chemical cocktail to brainwash its victims into committing suicide, scientists say.

Only about 60 are known to exist, but a family of five Asiatic cheetah recently appeared in a one-of-a-kind family photo.

In its unusually rapid intensification, Hurricane Katrina was very similar to the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, which struck Florida 70 years ago today.

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency defended his agency's response to the chaos caused by Hurricane Katrina.

See news stories, pictures, and video clips from the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The New Orleans levee system wasn't built to withstand a storm of Katrina's size. In the wake of the catastrophe, other communities may need to reevaluate their own levee protections.

Amidst bodies and tsunami-like destruction, hundreds of thousands of survivors of this week's Hurricane Katrina await a helping hand. These images portray some of the suffering.

Do scientists have an ethical responsibility to treat chimps—our closest genetic cousins—differently than other research animals? Some researchers say yes, others say no.

A huge Ice Age deer with antlers spanning 10 feet (3.5 meters) has been traced to its closest living relative, thanks to DNA science.

Rescue operations are transitioning to relief efforts in New Orleans, as other Gulf Coast residents pick through the wreckage of shattered homes and lives.

Fast facts about the incredible power of Hurricane Katrina and the tragic destruction wrought by the storm.

The invention of the spear spurred a peaceful era that lasted from roughly one million to 14,000 years ago, one anthropologist says.

Public health officials and environmental experts warn that New Orleans's floodwater is a highly contaminated cocktail of petrochemicals and sewage.

NOAA explorers working in the Gulf of Mexico just before Hurricane Katrina's arrival captured the first visual evidence of the fluorescent chain catshark.

You know a jerk when you hear one, but a new device called the Jerk-O-Meter could help you from sounding rude on the phone.

Scientists have invented a backpack that creates enough electricity to power seven portable gadgets at once. And to charge it up, all you have to do is walk.

Results are trickling in from NASA's Deep Impact mission, which slammed a spacecraft into the surface of a distant comet.

Thousands of dogs, cats, and other animals are stranded, and animal-welfare groups are pouring in to save as many as possible. Warning: disturbing images.

Equipped with only bare hands and a willful disregard for self-preservation, "noodlers," or handfishers, ply the muddy waters of U.S. rivers and lakes in search of monster catfish.

Scientists say they have generated clean, renewable electricity from the bacteria-rich fluids found inside cow stomachs. Other new batteries run on cow dung and dead flies.

From artificial reefs to outer space, alternative burial options abound. More people in the U.S. are chosing environmentally friendly, and often highly personalized, goodbyes.

Members of one of the largest grassroots animal-rescue efforts in U.S. history have started arriving on the Gulf Coast to save the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina dealt a blow to the nutria, the invasive rodent species that plagues the Gulf states. But efforts to control it are far from over.

The few surviving animals at New Orleans's aquarium are being evacuated, and the city's zoo has received an influx of workers.

More alligators and people are calling the Southeast U.S. home, leading to rising human-gator interactions. But a new study finds that most run-ins are harmless.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Google Maps and a host of spin-off sites are giving users a bird's-eye view of the aftermath of disaster.

Hurricane Katrina has left many Gulf Coast fisheries and oyster beds in ruins, leaving the region's fishermen, oystermen, and shrimpers to face a lengthy recovery.

A close look at the environmental factors behind Niger's current food crisis helps explain why so many are going hungry, and why the hunger will return.

Doctors in the U.K. are performing what they say is the first clinical study to test whether spray-on skin cells effectively treat burns.

Fearing that a deadly strain of avian flu may be spreading from Asia to other parts of the world, bird experts in Alaska have been testing migratory ducks for the virus.

Halfway through and already one for the record books, the 2005 hurricane season will close with a brace of storms, experts forecast.

Tons of cosmic dust deposited in the atmosphere by vaporizing meteors may influence Earth's weather more than thought, a recent study suggests.

Conservation biologists have recruited sophisticated satellites to help discover and protect unknown species before they disappear.

After more than a decade of searching, a wildlife researcher has captured proof of a white giraffe living in Tanzania's Tarangire National Park.

Winning pictures from the 2005 Banff Mountain Photography Competition range from a snowboarder catching extreme air in Austria to a lakeside shrine in Tibet.

Female greater horseshoe bats may choose one mate for life, and even share him with their daughters and granddaughters, creating a tight social structure.

The same biochemistry that helps garlic spice up good cooking may also hold potential for pain-fighting drugs, scientists say.

A blow-by-blow of the historic storm—its birth, its path, its landfall, and its aftermath.

Pursuing a solar system whodunit, scientists say they may have identified the source of a cataclysmic asteroid bombardment that pummeled Earth some 3.9 billion years ago.

The behavior of an unusual seismic fault in Chile could help scientists better understand when and where giant earthquakes are likely to recur.

Rising ocean temps are fueling stronger, more intense hurricanes, a new study suggests. But not all scientists are warming up to the findings.

Due to their need to compromise, wide-ranging treaties like the Kyoto Protocol often end up watered down. Bottom-up methods fight global warming better, three experts say.

With the harvest moon scheduled to shine Saturday, September 17, our video shows why it's so big and bright, how it got its name, and more.

A festival this weekend in California's Joshua Tree National Park aims to literally drum up support for one of the most endangered national parks in the U.S.

NOAA meteorologist Chris Landsea tracked the growth of Hurricane Katrina from a series of flights aboard a hurricane hunter aircraft.

The mystery of time and the possibilities of traveling through it raise some of the thorniest questions in physics. So why are a growing number of scientists grappling with the issue?

In South Africa nonnative triffid weed threatens to overrun a premier nature reserve, displacing rare black and white rhinos.

Animals from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Mississippi, are the target of an unusual rescue effort after the facility was almost completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed large swaths of wetlands and barrier islands off the U.S. Gulf Coast, scientists say, and humans are partly to blame for the damage.

See the full fury of Hurricane Katrina in video taken by storm cameraman Mike Theiss.

Equipped with spandex masks and outrageous names like Son of the Devil, Mexico's professional wrestlers appeal to a global fan base.

NASA's illustrated mission plan gives you a glimpse into the next generation of space travel.

The U.S. space agency revealed plans for a human return to the moon, including a base and a new craft called "Apollo on steroids."

High-tech animation brings the projected 2018 moon mission to life—from blastoff to lunar touchdown to return.

Year-old infants tune in to the musical rhythms of their culture, scientists say. The finding demonstrates how babies adapt to become more efficient community members.

The majority of species in danger of extinction are humble insects, a new study argues. Up to 44,000 types of bug could have been lost during the last 600 years.

How did what was perhaps the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history form? Our video time line tells the tale via satellite images, graphics, and on-the-scene footage.

Among primates, modern humans take a long time to reach adulthood, and so did Neandertals, according to a new tooth study.

Human stem cells injected into mice can repair damaged spinal cords and help partially paralyzed mice walk again, scientists say, raising hope for spin-off human therapies.

Ants with an acid bite can kill some plants and cultivate others, creating phenomena known as devil's gardens, a new study suggests.

Animal welfare groups met with Congress yesterday to discuss how lessons learned from Katrina might improve the way animals are handled during disaster response.

See how decades of efforts to curb the forces of nature in New Orleans are now giving the city a sinking feeling—literally.

Rain from Hurricane Rita might help dilute flood-borne toxins in New Orleans—but too much rain "could cause havoc" in the city.

Fueled by the warm late-summer waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Rita exploded Wednesday night into the third-most powerful hurricane on record for the Atlantic Basin.

Radioactive traces from nuclear tests in the '50s are allowing forensic scientists today to date, and to help identify, human remains.

A new genetically modified plant attracts helpful bugs that attack pests, a development that could one day reduce the need for chemical pesticides.

Kings of the corporate jungle may survive by using conflict and cooperation techniques honed by their primate relatives.

Hurricane Rita's approach toward Texas has raised the specter of the deadliest storm in U.S. history, a hurricane that killed 8,000 people in the city of Galveston.

Get the latest news updates, photo galleries, and video reports on Gulf Coast regions affected by Hurricane Rate.

As Hurricane Rita churns toward Texas, residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast are preparing for yet another pounding from a powerful storm.

To get a sense of just how turbulent the 2005 hurricane season has been, consider this: Forecasters may soon exhaust their list of pre-selected names for tropical storms.

The storm-tattered Gulf Coast took another direct hit from a powerful hurricane when Hurricane Rita made landfall in southwestern Louisiana early Saturday morning with winds approaching 120 miles an hour.

What remains of Hurricane Rita continued to soak parts of the U.S. South on Sunday, while communities on the Gulf Coast began the work of drying out and cleaning up.

Chameleons change their skin color to hide and to communicate. But why do the tropical lizards turn pale at night?

A midnight survey has shed light on a surprising success story for the national black-footed ferret reintroduction program.

Hurricane Rita was a fearsome monster of a storm as it plowed across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico last week. By the time it made landfall in southweatern Louisiana, millions of Gulf Coast residents had fled inland in anticipation of disaster.

A new study of hair regrowth in mice offers some hope to millions of balding men and women that barren hair follicles could be rejuvenated.

A new, highly contagious respiratory virus thought to affect only the greyhound racing industry is now being detected in family dogs.

The first-ever images of a living giant squid in the wild have been captured by Japanese scientists.

Without homes after nearly a month, victims of Hurricane Katrina tell stories of survival, charity, violence, and newfound love.

Hurricane Rita became a monster of a storm as it gathered strength over the Gulf of Mexico. Follow the path of the powerful hurricane in this video timeline.

Researchers in Idaho have found a way to use sheep to rid vast swathes of U.S. sagebrush lands of invasive weeds.

Astronomers have found a massive "big baby" galaxy near the limits of the observable universe, raising questions about established theories of galactic formation.

Astronomers say they have found invisible "dark matter" in an unexpected part of space, ramping up the debate about the nature of the mysterious material.

Why is quicksand easy to sink into but hard to escape from? A new study digs up some answers.

Scientists have taken inspiration from nature to create robots that can replicate themselves from randomly circulating components.

Data about the evolution of tiny crustaceans called whale lice can reveal useful facts about the history of right whales.

Female barn swallows will cheat on their mates with males that have more colorful plumage, according to a new sexual behavior study.

Archaeologists in Guatemala have located the ancient Maya city nicknamed Site Q that was previously known only by its exquisite, looted artifacts.

From aggressive dogs to nervous apes, pharmacological control of behavior problems has become a routine part of veterinary medicine.

South Dakota's inaugural cougar hunting season begins Saturday. Is it a managed recreational opportunity or a threat to big cat survival?

Researchers have photographed wild gorillas using sticks to navigate a swampy clearing in Africa. The images provide the first documented use of tools among wild gorillas.

A month after Hurricane Katrina tore through the U.S. Gulf Coast, medical experts are now struggling with the latest crisis in the region: disease-infested sludge, toxic sediments, and widespread mold.

Bovine tuberculosis poses a growing threat to South Africa's free-ranging lion population, says the chief veterinarian for Kruger National Park.

Humans and other mammals have flourished on the Earth, and a study says one important change in their environment may help explain why: a large increase in the concentration of atmospheric oxygen.