France's winter wheat harvest could shrink by over a tenth if farmers meet targets to halve pesticide use, said a study Thursday highlighting the challenge of feeding Earth's growing population.

The estimates come from field trials where scientists compared yields to cuts in pesticide use.

Surging populations and economies in the developing world will cause a double crunch in demand for water and energy in the coming decades, the U.N. said Friday.

In a report published on the eve of World Water Day, it said the cravings for clean water and electricity were intertwined and could badly strain Earth's limited resources.

Scientists have hit on a new way to combat one of Australia's worst pests -- create a male-only line.

The eight millimeter-long Queensland fruit fly is so prevalent and adept at destroying crops it is threatening the nation's Aus$6.9 billion (US$6.2 billion) horticultural industry.

A court in Tanzania jailed on Wednesday a Chinese ivory smuggler for 20 years amid a crackdown to stem a surge in poaching.

Yu Bo, 45, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of 81 elephant tusks and the skins of two pangolins, which are also known as scaly anteaters, lawyers said.

Undated handout photo obtained on March 19, 2014 shows the Malaysian false gharial female crocodile which was killed during mating at a zoo in Amsterdam

A very rare and endangered female crocodile has died of suffocation in a Dutch zoo during attempted mating with a "dominant" male partner, the zoo said on Wednesday.

Nicknamed the "chicken from hell," a newly identified species of feathered dinosaur as tall as a human roamed North America at least 66 million years ago, paleontologists announced Wednesday.

With a hen-like crest on its head, lanky legs like an ostrich, sharp claws on its forelimbs and jaws built for crushing eggs and prey, the Anzu wyliei weighed a hefty 440-660 pounds (200-300 kilograms).

Kenya must take drastic action to stem a surge of elephant and rhino poaching, veteran conservationist Richard Leakey warned Wednesday, lamenting that known ringleaders are operating with "outrageous impunity".

The poachers have "an extraordinary level of international criminal backing... operating with outrageous impunity, killing our elephants and rhinos at levels that will make them extinct within the country," Leakey told reporters.

Swedish researchers have developed a new method for diagnosing pancreatic cancer at a much earlier stage than currently possible, the University of Gothenburg said Tuesday.

The test detects the first signs of the deadly disease with 97 percent accuracy, which researchers hope will help improve the low survival rate among those diagnosed.

The Burmese python has a built-in compass that allows it to slither home in a near-straight line even if released dozens of kilometers away, researchers said Wednesday.

Capable of growing over five meters (16 feet) long, pythons are among the world's largest snakes. Although native to South and Southeast Asia, the snakes have taken up residence in South Florida's Everglades National Park, possibly after being released as unwanted pets.

Women are being put off careers in science by stereotypes and are less than half as likely as men to apply for degrees in the field, said a study published Wednesday.

A young woman in Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United States has on average a 35 percent probability to enrol in a scientific undergraduate degree, compared to a 77 percent chance for young men, the research found.