Japan's prime minister told parliament Monday he would boost his efforts toward restarting commercial whaling, despite a top UN court's order that Tokyo must stop killing whales in the Antarctic.

Shinzo Abe's comments put him firmly on a collision course with anti-whaling groups, who had hoped the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would herald the beginning of the end for the mammal hunt.

Before Houston and its suburbs were built, a dense forest naturally purified the coastal air along a stretch of the Texas Gulf Coast that grew thick with pecan, ash, live oak and hackberry trees.

It was the kind of pristine woodland that was mostly wiped out by settlers in their rush to clear land and build communities. Now one of the nation's largest chemical companies and one of its oldest conservation groups have forged an unlikely partnership that seeks to recreate some of that forest to curb pollution.

The skeletal remains of what are believed to be Japanese soldiers have been exposed on a remote Pacific island where waves have eroded the sea shore, a Japanese government official said Monday.

The bodies of around 20 men have emerged from the earth at a small coastal cemetery because of the action of the ocean on the Marshall Islands, a place scientists have long warned is vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

The White House said Friday proposed US action against climate change would save thousands of lives by reducing asthma, heat-related illnesses and other health hazards.

Less than a week after President Barack Obama laid out his most ambitious moves yet to reduce carbon emissions blamed for climate change, his administration spelled out what it said was a public health argument for taking action.

The clock is ticking for countries to lay the foundations of a 2015 deal to tackle dangerous climate change, ministers warned in Bonn on Friday.

A special U.N. summit in September, followed by a round of talks in Lima in December, must lay the first bricks of a highly complex accord due to be sealed in Paris in December 2015, they said.

The first video of life on Arctic sea ice from a polar bear point of view has been released by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The agency on Friday released a clip recorded by a camera attached to the collar of a female polar bear without cubs in the Beaufort Sea north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The necks of polar bear males are wider than their heads and collars slide off.

The U.S. space agency NASA has been warned that its mission to send humans to Mars will fail unless its revamps its methods and draws up a clear, well-planned strategy to conquer the red planet.

The National Research Council said in a congressionally-mandated report that Washington should use "stepping stones" to achieve its goal of a manned flight to Mars.

German scientists said Thursday that moon samples collected during the 1960s and 1970s have shown new evidence that the moon formed when a young Earth collided with another celestial body.

The smashup between an early form of Earth and a planetary body named Theia some 4.5 billion years ago is put forth by what scientists call the Giant Impact Hypothesis of moon formation.

Scientists have mapped the entire genome of sheep, paving the way to improve the health of the humble farm animal for better meat and wool.

After eight years of work on the entire genetic makeup of the species, the researchers also found the secrets of the sheep's digestive system and unique fat metabolism process that allows it to produce and maintain its thick coat.

An Australian plan to limit future port developments on or near the Great Barrier Reef to five areas was Friday criticized as "business as usual" and "destructive" by conservationists.

Queensland Infrastructure Minister Jeff Seeney said late Thursday the state's strategy would see future port developments centred on Townsville, Abbot Point, Hay Point and Mackay, Gladstone and Brisbane.