A U.S. food safety agency proposal to legalize sales of meat and milk from clones has reignited debate over the safety and ethics of animal cloning.

Human activity has caused at least 200 earthquakes, including the temblor that devastated the town of Newcastle, Australia, new research suggests.

See how a mischievous band of snow monkeys stays cool in their new home—a remote corner of sunny Texas—and learn why they can never return to their native Japan.

Of the 72 Indian rhinoceroses introduced to a Nepali wildlife reserve, 49 have mysteriously vanished, park officials report.

Slashed repeatedly by a giant propeller, the whale is the sixth known North Atlantic right whale fatality of 2006—and was one of only about 350 still in existence.

Holiday leftovers aren't just for humans. Zoo animals in Germany gorged on ornamental evergreens yesterday, with elephants eating an average of five trees each.

A pipeline being touted by Venezuelan leaders as an economic necessity has environmental groups warning of a "gigantic threat" to regional ecosystems and cultures.

After centuries of discrimination, the Roma—the ethnic group often mistakenly called Gypsies—are making slow but steady progress toward equal rights, a leading scholar says.

Relive the hunt for the "Arabian phoenix," which numbers fewer than 300 in the wild.

El Niño and high levels of greenhouse gases in the air are likely to make 2007 the hottest year ever recorded.

Chimp birth control, a New Year's plunge, a record snowfall, and a Renaissance murder mystery all color this week's images to remember.

Meet Wildlife Conservation Society biologist Andrea Turkalo, who doesn't just study forest elephants—sometimes she lives with them.

This week: giant ice shelf breaks free, monkeys sing when threatened, head-banging snakes predict quakes, Amazon may be gone in a hundred years, and more.

A Swedish firm will soon launch a service using 3-D maps of faces to enhance photo searches, raising concerns that the technology could violate people's rights and aid criminals.

Titan has lakes of methane and a hydrological cycle that resembles in uncanny detail the one found on Earth, a new study finds.

It looks like a shiny lump of fool's gold, and the curious metallic lump that smashed into a New Jersey home certainly has authorities fooled as to what it is.

A newly discovered bat that has adapted to Madagascar's vanishing forests is a model of stick-to-it-iveness—in more ways than one.

Even in apartment blocks, volunteer shooters take aim to rid the ultra-orderly metropolis of a disorderly invasive species.

Scientists have created a detailed, three-dimensional map of dark matter's evolution over time—revealing that the mysterious substance forms the scaffolding for stars and galaxies.

A large egg-shape region in the state's "toe" is slowing oozing into the Gulf of Mexico, researchers report, another reason cities in the area are at risk of damaging floods.

Stem cells that can grow into a variety of human tissues have been discovered in the fluid that surrounds a fetus during pregnancy, researchers say.

The first observed trio of these enormous, hyperactive black holes offers insights into galaxy collisions that took place in the cosmic past.

Many ski areas, driven by a desire to be more environmentally friendly, are now buying cleaner energy—or making their own.

A pulsating star, or pulsar, in the Crab Nebula may be the first known celestial body to have more than two poles, astronomers said Monday.

Smoke signals don't get much more ominous. A volcano on Montserrat discharged a miles-high ash cloud that could be a sign of worse to come.

The discovery of eight tiny galaxies near our own may provide scientists with insights into the structure of the universe.

The Internet giant has signed on to help make data from what will be the largest sky survey readily available to the public.

Based on a new infrared image, the iconic space formation was likely destroyed 6,000 years ago—but we won't see it happen for another thousand years.

Europe's smallest whale species is at risk from rising sea temperatures, according to a study of starved harbor porpoises washed up on Scottish shores.

An especially balmy December made 2006 the warmest year on record for the U.S. and the sixth warmest worldwide, a new government report says.

A new project plans to detect low-frequency signals sent by alien civilizations—from military radar to the ET version of talk radio.

Deep down, the moon may be a lot like Earth—and was probably born of Earth, according to a new look at moon rocks retrieved by Apollo astronauts.

A previously unknown group of tiny and bizarre algae belongs to an entirely new evolutionary lineage, researchers say.

The latest x-ray image of the remains of an exploded massive star reveals that the star died in a thermonuclear blast, astronomers say.

The 36,000-year-old skull provides evidence that modern humans left Africa 70,000 to 50,000 years ago to colonize Eurasia, a study says.

This week: new stem cell source found, 2007 may be hottest year on record, Louisiana slipping into Gulf, fish smell their way home, new bat discovered, and more.

A variety of native plant matter and a wealth of artifacts suggest that the colonists were trying to live off the land but were also better supplied than historians had thought.

Take a trip through history with the father of the civil rights movement and learn more about the obstacles he fought to overcome.

Evidence of at least two other nearby stone monuments suggests that Stonehenge was once the lynchpin of a large complex of formations.

This week: ice church inaugurated, rare terrapin rediscovered, mummy exhibition opens, voodoo celebration winds down, and more.

An unusual discovery suggests that manatees' tactile sense is so finely tuned that they can detect current shifts and even tidal forces to help them make their complex migrations.

The new skull find also shows that humans continued to evolve after reaching Europe some 40,000 years ago.

Get a clear view of a surprising cephalopod with our footage of an octopus winding its way through a network of seemingly incommodius tubes.

A new conservation effort takes up the cause of some of the world's strangest—and most overlooked—animals.

Get your feet wet with a team of biologists conducting one of the most comprehensive studies yet done of Florida manatees in the wild.

Amnesiac patients have difficulty imagining future events, new research suggests, implying that memory and imagination are closely related.

Was the French emperor poisoned by wary enemies? A new study may put decades-old rumors to rest.

Join reformed thieves as they guide tourists through the forest preserves of India and help catch the newest generation of illegal hunters.

A quintet of NASA probes will study what triggers the strong magnetic storms that make the northern lights dance and will help improve space weather predictions.

Comet McNaught—the brightest comet in 40 years—could be the last thing sky-watchers see if they aren't careful, astronomers warn.

Watch as a blue crab is left clutching for more after facing off with a tiny octopus that puts life over limb.

The agony of a ghost limb can be all too real for amputees. But recent experiments suggest that an unreal treatment may hold the key to a cure.

The princes of "Sealand" are selling the North Sea platform they call a country. Among the suitors: a Web site eager to extend the principality's pirate tradition.

Go on assignment with a volunteer in California who hopes that "hazing" bears will keep them away from humans and save them from an untimely end.

About 30 percent of the 150 species living in the Yellow River are gone for good, state media reported, citing pollution, overfishing, and damming as the main culprits.

This week: "weirdest" species get conservation attention, humans and Neandertals may have interbred, manatees "super" senses, new Jamestown findings, more.

Critically endangered mountain gorillas are being killed and eaten by rebel troops, wildlife workers in eastern Congo report. (Warning: This story contains a graphic image that may be disturbing to some readers.)

The ancient structure in Peru may change perceptions of the Chachapoya Indians, a mountain civilization known for battling the Inca Empire.

This week: skiers gear up for championship, holy men gather in India, citrus freezes in California, a leopard attacks city dwellers, and more.

Scientists in Brazil may have finally solved the centuries-old mystery of what causes the phenomenon known as ball lightning.

An exotic form of diamond found only in Brazil and the Central African Republic may have brought to Earth by an asteroid, new research suggests.

Get to know some of the unique residents of the Sonoran Desert, and see the tricks these animals employ to bring a new generation of survivors into the world.

More than 1,600 years since the Romans outlawed the Greek pantheon, a handful of pagans has regained the ancient religion's official status.

Egg-producing male fish are unusual but no longer uncommon in parts of the Washington, D.C.-area river. A new government report may help answer why.

Jittery fliers can take heart. NASA is developing two new technologies to help pilots steer clear of erratic, gusty winds.

The loss would change the supply of drinking and irrigation water, lead to more falling rocks, and cripple the European ski industry.

Rain forest groups trained to use GPS devices are creating maps to help win territorial disputes and protect their forests from mining and logging.

Huge armadas of toxic bluebottle jellyfish are swamping Australia's east coast in record numbers, likely because of warming ocean waters.

A massive cargo ship is threatening to release thousands of tons of heavy oil into a wildlife-rich stretch of the United Kingdom's coastline.

Take an arduous trek to the top of a giant redwood, and learn why scientists think that, when it comes to growing, the sky's the limit for this behemoth.

An unusual chromosome previously known only in West Africans has been discovered in white people from northern England, researchers report.

Join scientists as they discover how the giant animals communicate with one another without making a sound.

Ringside seats for just a few face-offs between neighboring rivals let fish determine the area's whole hierarchy, new research suggests.

An underground trove of fossils suggests humans, not climate change, led to the demise of the continent's ancient large animals, scientists report.

Flaring gills, three-pointed teeth, and an eel-like body make the frilled shark look like a living fossil. So when a fisher spotted one off Japan, he knew he had something special.

Watch an anthropologist as he works with both wild wolves and down-home pups to discover how dogs evolved to become man's best friend.

Both female and male ornate jumping spiders are dependent on ultraviolet light to kick off the courtship process—but in entirely different ways.

Rebel troops who killed and ate two critically endangered mountain gorillas in Central Africa earlier this month have agreed to end the slaughter, conservationists say.

Mars may still house large reservoirs of the water and carbon dioxide that once formed the planets ancient atmosphere, new research suggests.

An upwelling of mud that has killed at least 13 and may leave thousands homeless was started by exploratory drilling, scientists say.

This week: African rebels eat gorillas, spiders' glow seen as sexy, humans killed off Ice Age Aussie animals, "black" diamonds hail from space, and more.

Far from the heartland of the "mother culture," the ruins may rewrite the history of Central America's first advanced civilization.

Within a few decades, pollution could erase thousand-year-old stone carvings at one of Mexico's most important archaeological sites, a new study shows

The cave where a she-wolf is said to have suckled Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome, has been unearthed in the city's Palatine Hill, experts say.

This week: "virgin" komodo birth, groundbreaking rhino, firearm bonfire, new species of lizards, a new nocturnal rodent, and more.

A tiny hobbit-like human that lived 18,000 years ago was a member of its own species, not a modern human with a brain disorder, according to a new study of the hominin's skull.

A new wave of violence is sweeping through Somalia. Find out why peace remains an elusive dream for the shattered country.

A prehistoric settlement discovered in England likely housed the builders of the famous stone monument and was an important ceremonial site in its own right, archaeologists say.

Join archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson as he takes you through a huge prehistoric settlement that's believed to have housed the builders of Stonehenge.

The village was home to the ancient British monument's builders and the site of mass rituals that may link Stonehenge with another "henge," archaeologists announced.

A toad-eating Asian snake stores up toxins from its amphibian meals—and then tempts predators to attack, new research shows.

The tiny marine plants that make up the foundation of the food chain are directly affected by warming oceans, a recent study found.