Scientists said Wednesday they had unraveled the mystery of how spider webs can withstand multiple tears and even hurricane-force winds without collapsing.

The findings should be of keen interest to engineers searching for shock-resistant structural designs, they said.

U.S. scientists said Wednesday they have found a way to decode how the brain hears words, in what researchers described as a major step toward one day helping people communicate after paralysis or stroke.

By placing electrodes on the brains of research subjects and then having them listen to conversations, scientists were able to analyze the sound frequencies registered and figure out which words they were hearing.

Some 24,000 Australian ducks were being destroyed Wednesday after testing positive for a low pathogenic strain of the bird flu virus, an outbreak which has prompted poultry export bans in parts of Asia.

The Australian Chicken Meat Foundation said the outbreak of the strain of avian influenza appeared to be confined to two linked duck farms in the southern state of Victoria and any ban on exports was an over-reaction.

A glimpse beyond our solar system reveals the neighborhood just outside the sun's influence is different and stranger than expected, scientists reported Tuesday.

One oddity is the amount of oxygen. There are more oxygen atoms floating freely in the solar system than in the immediate interstellar space, or the vast region between stars.

The oldest known species of crocodile had an armor-plated head and a body half the length of a subway car, according to research released Tuesday by US scientists who identified the now-extinct creature.

Nicknamed "Shieldcroc" for its impressive head plate, the aquatic reptile swam in the waters of Africa some 95 million years ago and is the newest discovery of an ancient crocodile species, said the study in the journal PLoS ONE.

A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.

Thirty people, most of them homeless, have died of hypothermia in recent days in Ukraine, part of a surge of deaths across eastern Europe as the region grapples with an unusually severe cold spell.

In all, at least 54 people have died from the cold in Europe over the last week.

Across southern Florida, rabbits, raccoons, bobcats and foxes have been disappearing at dramatic rates over the past decade, and invasive Burmese pythons are to blame, a U.S. study said.

The big snakes which are native to Southeast Asia have been devouring all kinds of wildlife leading to "severe declines" in once common animals, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The part of the brain used for speech processing is in a different location than originally believed, according to a U.S. study Monday that researchers said will require a rewrite of medical texts.

Wernicke's area, named after the German neurologist who proposed it in the late 1800s, was long believed to be at the back of the brain's cerebral cortex, behind the auditory cortex which receives sounds.

An elephant in Amsterdam's zoo has made history after being fitted with a jumbo-sized contact lens following an eye injury, a statement said Monday.

"Win Thida is the first elephant in Europe with a contact lens," the Artis zoo said on its website.