Japanese scientists say they are on their way to being able to create custom-made skin, bone and joints using a 3D printer.

Several groups of researchers around the world have developed small masses of tissue for implants, but now they are looking to take the next step and make them functional.

Pollution levels soared in Beijing on Thursday to readings more than 20 times WHO recommended limits, as an annual bout of intense smog returned to haunt the Chinese capital despite government vows to address the plague.

Levels of PM2.5 particulates -- the smallest and most dangerous, with a diameter small enough to deeply penetrate the lungs -- were recorded at 568 micrograms per cubic metre by the U.S. embassy during the afternoon.

Scientists are unraveling a mystery behind a fairly common disease that leads to heart failure: Why do some people with a key mutated gene fall ill while others stay healthy?

Researchers tested more than 5,200 people to tease apart when mutations really are harmful or are just bystanders. The work could help in screening families prone to heart failure but also has broader implications as more people undergo genetic tests that can turn up unnecessarily worrying results.

Astronauts at the International Space Station rushed to take shelter Wednesday after a system failure signaled a possible ammonia leak, but NASA said later it was likely a false alarm.

The six-member crew donned emergency masks and hurried to the Russian side of the orbiting lab two separate times after the problem was noticed at around 4 am (0900 GMT).

France should build a new generation of nuclear reactors to replace its ageing power stations that provide a majority of the country's electricity, the energy and environment minister said Tuesday.

Despite French firms being world leaders in nuclear energy, the country's Socialist government has been keen on ending France's status as the world's most nuclear-dependent country.

Women want to settle down while men prefer to play the field, right?

Not quite, said a study Wednesday that challenged long-held views of sexual selection.

The New Zealand navy was involved in a high-seas standoff with two suspected poaching ships in Antarctic waters Wednesday after the vessels used "evasive tactics" to thwart boarding attempts, officials said.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the naval patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington had been monitoring three "illegal fishing vessels" in the Southern Ocean this week which were sailing under the flag of Equatorial Guinea.

Coastal developments in northeast Asia are threatening the survival of Australian migratory shorebirds, a study has found, with some species experiencing population declines of up to 75 percent over the last two decades.

Some 36 migratory shorebird species, numbering between three to eight million, fly to Australia each summer from breeding sites in the Russian and Alaskan Arctic.

A giant prehistoric reptile that patrolled the waters off Scotland 170 million years ago has been identified by scientists, they said Monday.

The creatures, which resembled a menacing dolphin and grew up to 14 foot (four metres) long, were identified by fossils from the Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland.

Plenty of research has shown that learning a second language can boost brainpower, but a new study out Monday suggests that the effects extend to those who begin in middle childhood.

The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that people who began learning English around age 10 and were immersed in the language, meaning they heard and used it in daily life, showed improvements in the structure of the brain's white matter compared to people who grew up speaking only English and did not learn a second language.