It's arguably our most vital and precious natural resource, and one that is growing dangerously scarce from China to California, but no matter how much we value water, we're not that keen on paying for it.

The issue of pricing water is extremely sensitive -- socially, politically, economically -- but it's an issue that is being revisited with increasing frequency as warnings of a looming global crisis over water scarcity grow louder.

A Sumatran elephant has been found shot dead in Indonesia with its tusks removed and its head badly mutilated, an official said Wednesday, the latest suspected attack by poachers on the critically-endangered animals.

The carcass of the male elephant, aged around 20, was found Monday in a forest in Aceh province, on western Sumatra island, local conservation agency chief Genman Suhefti Hasibuan told Agence France Presse. 

The best picture we have of Pluto is a blurry, pixelated blob, but that is about to change when a NASA spacecraft makes the first-ever flyby of the dwarf planet.

The U.S. space agency's unmanned New Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to pass by Pluto on July 14, and will send back unprecedented high-resolution images, allowing people to glimpse the surface of the distant celestial body in rich detail.

Three new species of multi-colored lizards sporting jagged crests that make them look like pint-sized "Godzillas" have been discovered in Ecuador and Peru, highlighting the region's rich biodiversity.

The lizards were found in the rainforests of the Tropical Andes region, where even more reptiles are likely waiting to be discovered, said the team of scientists who published the find in the latest issue of zoological journal ZooKeys.

SpaceX launched a shipment of groceries to the International Space Station on Tuesday, including the first espresso maker bound for orbit. But the private company's third attempt to land the leftover booster on an ocean platform failed.

The first-stage booster rocket apparently landed too hard on the barge and tipped over.

Warming seas may spell the end to traditional British food favourites such as haddock and chips, researchers said on Monday.

Haddock, plaice and lemon sole are to decline in numbers as the North Sea warms by a predicted 1.8 degrees Celsius (35.24 degrees Fahrenheit) over 50 years, according to research by University of Exeter scientists.

First classified a planet, then an asteroid and then a "dwarf planet" with some traits of a moon -- the more scientists learn about Ceres, the weirder it becomes.

And new observations of the sphere of rock and ice circling our Sun between Mars and Jupiter have added to the mystery, researchers said Monday.

A rarely seen Omura's whale has washed up in Australia, only the second sighting nationally and one of the few globally, exciting scientists who know little about the species, officials said Tuesday.

The dead whale was found on a remote beach near the town of Exmouth, 1,265 kilometres (784 miles) north of Perth, in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Olwyn which hit the region last month.

Japan's top whaling negotiator said Tuesday Tokyo would try again to justify its "scientific" Antarctic Ocean hunt after a panel of experts said the government had not proved why it needed to kill the mammals.

Joji Morishita, Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), said he and his fellow officials would do their best to meet demands for evidence their hunt is scientific, with the Japanese government determined to restart what it claims is research.

China has wrought widespread environmental damage in the South China Sea with its construction of artificial islands on disputed reefs, the Philippines said Monday.

The construction works have destroyed 300 acres of coral reefs, resulting in an estimated $100 million in annual economic losses to coastal states, Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said.