Pollution and global warming are pushing the world's oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unseen for tens of millions of years, a consortium of scientists warned.

Dying coral reefs, biodiversity ravaged by invasive species, expanding open-water "dead zones," toxic algae blooms, the massive depletion of big fish stocks -- all are accelerating, they said in a report compiled during an April meeting in Oxford of 27 of the world's top ocean experts.

Astronomers think they have solved the mystery of an extraordinary flash spied in a faraway galaxy, saying it came from a massive black hole that devoured a star after it wandered too close.

The awesome energy released by the feeding frenzy was first detected by NASA's Swift satellite on March 28 and was later confirmed by a fleet of space and ground telescopes.

Cuban scientists calculate that median sea levels around the Caribbean nation will rise more than 30 inches by the end of the century due to global climate change, official media said Friday.

Models predict the sea will rise 10.6 inches (27 centimeters) by 2050, and 33.5 inches (85 centimeters) by 2100, Abel Centella, scientific director of the country's Meteorological Institute, was quoted by Communist Party daily Granma as saying.

Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa has tweeted from the International Space Station that he suffers from travel sickness in space.

"Space motion sickness got me. Especially when I move my head suddenly, I really feel sick. My head feels heavy. Help!" Furukawa, who is also a medical doctor, said in a message posted on his Twitter account (twitter.com@Astro_Satoshi) Tuesday.

The neck bone of a crocodile-faced dinosaur species has been found in Australia, scientists said, showing the creature roamed much further than previously thought.

The vertebra of a Spinosaurus was found near southern Victoria's Cape Otway lighthouse and belonged to a relatively small two-meter (6.6-foot) beast which lived about 105 million years ago, said researcher Thomas Rich.

Astronomers have detected faint X-ray signals that they believe were emitted by giant black holes billions of years ago when the Universe was a toddler, a study in the journal Nature said on Wednesday.

The probe looked at more than 250 galaxies, the farthest of which was 13 billion light years from Earth -- in other words, emissions that came only 700 million years or so after the "Big Bang" that created the cosmos.

U.S. scientists say the familiar sunspot cycle seems to be entering a hibernation period unseen since the 17th century, a pattern that could have a slight cooling effect on global temperatures.

For years, scientists have been predicting the Sun would by around 2012 move into solar maximum, a period of intense flares and sunspot activity, but lately a curious calm has suggested quite the opposite.

Sharply reducing emissions of soot and smog could play a critical role in preventing Earth from overheating, according to a U.N. report released on Tuesday.

Curbing these pollutants could also boost global food output and save millions of lives lost to heart and lung disease, said the report from the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Humans may be evolving a third as slowly as commonly thought, according to an investigation into genetic changes in two generations of families.

The genetic code comprises six billion nucleotides, or building blocks of DNA, half of which come from each parent.

Scientists have uncovered a trio of genes tied to migraine headaches, including one in which the link is exclusive to women, according to a new study.

Migraines are acutely debilitating headaches -- sometimes with an "aura", in which patients have the impression of seeing through frosted glass -- that strike up to 20 percent of the population.