This NASA photo released November 15, 2013 shows the "Murray Ridge" portion …

A strange rock that looks like a jelly doughnut has appeared on Mars, and scientists are closer to figuring out how it got there, a top NASA expert said Thursday.

The southeastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo on Thursday banned animal testing in research for the cosmetics, perfume and personal care industry,

The decision followed recent protests by animal rights activists.

Pine cones, moss and rotten food are fueling a Swedish city's quest to be sustainable, but people's attachment to their cars may put the brakes on its carbon-neutral ambition.

Nestled among glittering lakes and thick pine forests in southern Sweden, Vaexjoe has gone further than most in renewable energy, clean transport and energy conservation, promoting itself as "Europe's Greenest City".

NASA on Thursday launched a new satellite to boost its growing communications network between Earth and the International Space Station, allowing for nearly uninterrupted video, voice link and data transmission.

The TDRS-L rocket blasted off at 9:33 pm (0233 GMT Friday) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on its way to become the 11th member of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.

In the absence of federal regulation, American state governments are considering laws to require labels on food items containing genetically modified ingredients.

Currently, only Connecticut and Maine have laws requiring labels for genetically modified food. But those requirements won't kick in until other U.S. states adopt their own rules. Bills to do just that are expected in more than two dozen states.

Aerospace giant Boeing and its research partners in the Middle East said Wednesday they would start field trials after recording progress in making biofuel from desert plants fed with seawater.

The Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium, affiliated with the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, will plant two hectares (five hectares) of the saltwater-tolerant plants called halophytes in the region's sandy soil and the plants will be fed with waste water from a fish and shrimp farm.

Japanese researchers said Thursday they had succeeded in using cosmic rays to find nuclear fuel inside a reactor, a technology that might be helpful in the complicated decommissioning at Fukushima.

By observing the way the particles behaved near reactors, container vessels and spent fuel pools, they were able to obtain a clear visual picture of the fuel, they said.

Northern Kenya is at risk of drought if current weather trends continue, the Red Cross warned Wednesday of the harsh areas awash with guns where people depend on animals for their livelihoods.

"The short rains lasting October, November and December failed, and we have not had rain so far in January," Red Cross Secretary-General Abbas Gullet told Agence France Presse, noting rains are not now expected until April.

EU member states should cut their carbon dioxide emissions, widely blamed for global warming, by 40 percent by 2030, the European Commission said Wednesday.

Member states should also ensure that renewables count for 27 percent of their energy mix by the same date, it said, unveiling its 2030 climate change package.

Imagine a creature so slothful that it snacks off its own fur and budges only once a week for a bowel movement.

Well, there is one, say scientists, and it is a type of sloth.