Earthquakes can rip open sub-sea pockets of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, according to a study by German and Swiss scientists published on Sunday.

Quake-caused methane should be added to the list of heat-trapping carbon emissions that affect the world's climate system, although the scale of this contribution remains unclear, they said.

Sixteen protesters were arrested on Friday as British police broke up a blockade against exploratory drilling by a fracking company in southern England.

Campaigners demonstrated for a second day against planned test drilling by British firm Cuadrilla, which specializes in hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, known as "fracking".

In a desperate bid to preserve a critically endangered species, a U.S. zoo is taking the controversial step of trying to mate brother and sister captive Sumatran rhinoceroses.

The coupling of six-year-old Harapan and his older sister Suci could take place as early as August at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, animal keepers say.

An odd underwater ballet has been unfolding in the Mediterranean port of Toulon these past few days.

Under the scrutiny of their masters, whose eyes are glued to computer screens, the world's first fleet of "marine drones" is being put through its paces.

Stressful events can often coincide with the creation of false memories, when people recall things that never happened, and scientists said Thursday they are learning more about this curious phenomenon.

A better understanding of false memories could help treat post-traumatic stress and possibly cut back on inaccurate eyewitness testimony that jails innocent people, experts say.

Swiss researchers said Thursday that people really do have a hard time getting a good night's sleep when the moon is full, even when they can't see it.

The results of a study on 33 volunteers published in the journal Current Biology showed that people took longer to fall asleep at night and slept for a shorter time during a full moon.

The familiar exteriors of astronauts' spacesuits often hide all of the ingenuity and mechanics that are built inside the suits, which were first imagined as "wearable spacecraft."

Now a new art exhibit, "Suited for Space," opening Friday at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, highlights the creativity behind the suits that allowed humans to explore the moon and aspire to fly farther from Earth.

Marine archaeologists made a thrilling discovery this week while examining a well-preserved shipwreck deep in the Gulf of Mexico — two other sunken vessels that likely went down with it during an early 19th century storm.

Much isn't known about the ships, including the flag or flags they sailed under and the year they sank about 170 miles (273 kilometers) southeast of Galveston. They came to rest 4,360 feet (1,300 meters), or nearly three-quarters of a mile, below the surface, making them the deepest Gulf or North American shipwrecks to have been systematically investigated by archaeologists, the researchers said.

A U.S. company that promoted its stem cell discovery in partnership with the Vatican has come under fresh scrutiny by independent scientists who said Wednesday the cells do not exist.

Scientists at Stanford University said in the journal Stem Cell Reports they could not replicate NeoStem's findings of very small embryonic-like cells (VSELs) in the bone marrow of lab mice.

Sequencing of the oil palm, one of the world's most important crops, has pinpointed a gene that should boost yields and ease pressure on tropical rainforests, studies said on Wednesday.

Published in the scientific journal Nature, the genome highlights the role of an all-important gene called Shell, according to a probe led by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).