Nepal's government has ordered a new measurement of Mount Everest to determine exactly how high the world's highest mountain is, an official said Wednesday.

Nepal has continued to recognize the decades-old measurement of 29,028 feet (8,448 meters). However, there have been other claims recently by China and western climbers.

An expectant silence hangs over the Pukaha bird sanctuary as hundreds of spectators await a glimpse of a rare white kiwi, a bird held sacred by New Zealand's indigenous Maori people.

A collective sigh follows his unveiling to the crowd, although this appears to be prompted more by the chick's cute appearance than any mystical qualities.

Scientists scouring the mountains of Borneo spotted a toad species last seen in 1924 by European explorers and provided the world with the first photographs of the colorful, spindly legged creature, a researcher said Thursday.

In recent years, the Washington-based Conservation International placed the Sambas stream toad, also known as the Bornean rainbow toad, on a world "Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs" and voiced fears it might be extinct.

Life is tough for the top baboon.

Oh sure, you're No. 1 so you get the best food and girl baboons. But there's also all that pressure to defend your status.

Large predators like sharks, lions and wolves are on the decline worldwide, a trend that is disrupting the Earth's ecosystem in all kinds of unusual ways, researchers said Thursday.

If you have been to the the beach, chances are you have experienced an unfortunate rite of summer: The sunburn. Skin so swollen it hurts to bend. The heat that rises from reddened shoulders. The "ow, ow, ow" from the shower after you thought the pain had faded.

For all the creams that promise to soothe, there aren't super treatments for a sunburn. Dermatologists say the best bet: Some of the same pills you pop for a headache — like the ibuprofen found in Motrin and Advil, or naproxen brands such as Aleve.

Environmental campaigners Wednesday accused suppliers to major clothing brands including Adidas and Nike of poisoning China's major rivers with hazardous chemicals linked to hormonal problems.

Greenpeace said eight samples of wastewater discharge from two factories in the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas, identified as suppliers for the brands, contained "a cocktail of hazardous chemicals".

Scientists on Tuesday offered a slender piece of good news about global warming, reporting that cities can be of surprising help in soaking up carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas.

Around four percent of the world's land surface is defined as urbanized, a figure expected to surge as the planet's human population rises from seven billion this year to as much as 9.5 billion by mid-century.

Millions of tons of plastic debris dumped each year in the world's oceans could pose a lethal threat to whales, according to a scientific assessment to be presented at a key international whaling forum this week.

A review of research literature from the last two decades reveals hundreds of cases in which cetaceans -- an order including 80-odd species of whales, dolphins and porpoises -- have been sickened or killed by marine litter.

She's the last northern white rhinoceros on view anywhere in Europe — but zoo keepers are hoping lonely Nabire will find solace with a southern rhino 11 years her senior.

Another northern white — Nesari — died here in her sleep in May aged 39, further reducing the world's dwindling population of the critically endangered animal.