Scientists said Friday they had mapped ground-level air pollution in China from space for the first time, a feat that should help the fight against a notorious health hazard.

French and Belgian atmospheric scientists used an infrared sensor aboard a European MetOp weather satellite to map plumes of particles and carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ammonia over the north China plain, blanketing Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province in January 2013.

The next 15 years will be vital in determining whether global warming can be limited to 2C (3.6F) by 2100, with energy and transport presenting the heftiest challenges, according to a draft UN report.

"Delaying mitigation through 2030 will increase the challenges.... and reduce the options," warns a summary of the report seen by Agence France Presse.

Let the robot race begin.

Expectations are high for RoboEarth, a new European-funded system to speed the development of human-serving robots. Scientists from five major European technical universities have gathered in the Netherlands this week for its launch and to demonstrate possible applications.

Japanese space scientists are set to trial a tether they hope will help pull junk out of orbit around Earth, clearing up tonnes of planetary clutter, they said Thursday.

Researchers at The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have developed what they called an electrodynamic tether made from thin wires of stainless steel and aluminium.

Humans need both sides of their brain for speech, according to a study Wednesday that could rewrite therapy for people verbally impaired by a stroke.

A mainstream theory in neurology is that speech and language are "lateralised" skills -- thus controlled by only one side of the brain, in this case the left.

Despite their greater age, big, old trees do more than small, young ones to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, said a study Wednesday that explores how well forests slow global warming.

The findings overturn the conventional view that old, large trees are relatively unproductive in absorbing heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

Ibises flying in a V formation synchronise the flapping of their wings with a degree of precision previously thought impossible, astounded researchers said Wednesday.

A team that measured every single wing beat of 14 birds during 43 minutes of a migratory flight found that each animal positioned itself in just the right place in relation to the others, and timed its flaps so as to gain the most aerodynamic advantage.

Thieves tried to steal the ashes of Sigmund Freud, regarded as the father of modern psychoanalysis, and his wife Martha from a Jewish cemetery in London, police said Wednesday.

The ashes were contained in an ancient urn dating back to the third century BC, which was severely damaged during the attempted theft sometime around New Year's Eve.

Astronomers on Wednesday reported a potentially rich source of exoplanets -- those in solar systems other than our own -- in stellar masses known as star clusters.

Hundreds of exoplanets have been found since the first was spotted in 1995, but very few have been found inside star clusters, where hundreds of stars, often born at the same time, gather in the same neighborhood of the galaxy.

European Parliament signed off Tuesday on new carbon dioxide restrictions for commercial vans that will slash emissions by 28 percent from 2020.

Under the rules, all new light commercial vehicles sold across the European Union will emit a maximum 147 grams of CO2 per kilometer instead of 203 grams as per the level set in 2007.