NASA is preparing to launch its latest sun-monitoring satellite on a mission to improve space weather prediction.

The Iris satellite will observe a little-studied region of the sun that emits ultraviolet light. Scientists hope examining the sun's lower atmosphere would help them learn more about how this region drives solar wind and powers the corona, the sun's outer atmosphere seen during eclipses.

A U.N. representative in Costa Rica sent condolences Monday to the family of a slain environmentalist who volunteered for a turtle protection group and had reported threats by criminal groups.

The body of Jairo Mora Sandoval, 26, was found face-down and handcuffed Friday next to the car he was driving in Limon, on the Caribbean coast, police told Agence France Presse.

The Solar Impulse, a single-person solar-powered aircraft piloted by a Swiss adventurer, landed in St. Louis, Missouri early Tuesday on the third leg of a transcontinental flight after over 21 hours in the air.

The organizer's ground crew rushed out on the tarmac of the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport when the aircraft, which has four electric engines and an enormous wingspan, landed at 0627 GMT.

For decades, health officials have battled malaria with insecticides, bed nets and drugs. Now, scientists say there might be a potent new tool to fight the deadly mosquito-borne disease: the stench of human feet.

In a laboratory study, researchers found that mosquitoes infected with the tropical disease were more attracted to human odors from a dirty sock than those that didn't carry malaria. Insects carrying malaria parasites were three times more likely to be drawn to the stinky stockings.

The discovery of unauthorized genetically engineered wheat growing on a farm in the U.S. state of Oregon has cast a spotlight on agricultural biotechnology and the debate about its safety.

While genetically engineered or genetically modified (GM) wheat has not been approved for commercial planting, GM corn and GM soybeans already reign supreme on American farms.

Negotiators on Monday launched a new round of U.N. climate talks to warnings that a newly breached threshold was a wakeup call to tackle surging carbon emissions.

The 12-day talks under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) seek to breathe life into a quest to forge a pact on heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

The first manned aircraft that can fly day and night powered entirely by solar energy was to leave Texas for Missouri Monday, and will use a "revolutionary" inflatable hangar to replace one damaged in last week's Midwest tornadoes.

Powerful storms that hit the St. Louis, Missouri area late Friday rendered Solar Impulse's hangar at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport unusable, organizers of its current U.S. flight said.

Multinational companies are profiting hand over fist from abusive forestry practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where illegal logging, mislabeled timber and false permits are widespread, according to several non-governmental organizations.

The forests of the Congo basin in central Africa cover about 100 million hectares (almost 250 million acres) and are regarded as the second-largest green lung on the planet after the Amazon rainforest, but in DR Congo trees are being cut down with little regard for the law. Local and international NGOs charge that Congolese authorities are working with logging companies.

A billion dollars of public money earmarked to help people hit by Japan's 2011 quake and tsunami was spent in areas unaffected by the natural disaster, the government admitted Monday.

Projects ranging from counting sea turtles on semi-tropical beaches, to the promotion of cheese and wine events hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the disaster zone benefited from the largesse, a report said.

The Japanese government has decided to reject landmark rules on the trade in sharks, an official said Friday, opting for status quo despite a global push to protect the predators.

Japan is filing a "reservation" about the regulation under the 178-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to restrict cross-border trade in the oceanic whitetip, the porbeagle and three types of hammerhead shark.