From missing seismic devices to insufficient emergency back-up systems, stress tests on Europe's nuclear power plants show hundreds of problems requiring billions in new investment, an EU report showed Tuesday.

In the report obtained by Agence France Presse, the European Commission estimates the cost of improving safety at 134 reactors "in the order of 10-25 billion euros" ($13-$32 billion) and wants the upgrades monitored and finalized by 2015. But it demands no plant closures.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover in the past 27 years due to storms, predatory starfish and bleaching linked to climate change, a study found Tuesday.

The research by scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS) and the University of Wollongong warned that coral cover on the heritage-listed reef -- the world's largest -- could halve again by 2022 if trends continued.

When a bio-medical study is retracted, most of the time it is because of misconduct rather than error, a report published Monday said.

Two-thirds of all retractions around the world stem from acts like fraud, suspected fraud or plagiarism, it added.

A team of New Zealand scientists claimed to be a step closer to producing allergy-free milk Tuesday, using a genetically-modified cow for their medical breakthrough.

The team at the AgResearch Institute said they had bred the first cow in the world to produce high-protein milk with significantly reduced amounts of a protein believed responsible for allergies.

Plans to use an array of powerful air cannons in an undersea seismic study near a Central California nuclear power plant have federal and state officials juggling concerns over marine life with public safety.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. wants to use big air guns to emit strong sound waves into a large, near-shore area that includes parts of marine reserves to make three-dimensional maps of fault zones, some of which were discovered in 2008, near its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

A Chinese rocket on Saturday successfully launched a Venezuelan earth-observation satellite into orbit, state media said.

The satellite, dubbed "Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda" after the major Venezuelan independence figure, was launched from the northwest Jiuquan base in the Gobi desert using a 'Long March' class rocket, said Xinhua.

An Alaska scientist whose observations of drowned polar bears helped galvanize the global warming movement has been reprimanded for improper release of government documents.

An Interior Department official said emails released by Charles Monnett were cited by a federal appeals court in decisions to vacate approval by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management of an oil and gas company's Arctic exploration plan.

They slink through the woods in camouflage and face paint, armed with tire irons, screwdrivers and hoes. They're the new breed of U.S. ginseng diggers, hoping to feed rising Asian demand for the increasingly rare — and expensive — plant's roots.

Police say more diggers are pushing into the back country in search of wild ginseng, ripping up even the smallest plants and ignoring property lines.

The countdown is on for skydiver Felix Baumgartner.

In just two weeks, Baumgartner will attempt to go supersonic when he jumps from a record altitude of 23 miles over New Mexico. Project managers announced Tuesday the feat will take place Oct. 8.

Australian officials, under pressure to protect beach-goers after a string of deadly shark attacks, have approved a plan to kill sharks that venture too close to people in the water.

The plan, which was announced by Western Australia state Premier Colin Barnett on Thursday, has infuriated conservationists and marks a sharp reversal of the current policy that permits the killing of sharks only after they have attacked.