A palm-sized Japanese satellite in orbit around Earth will flash a Morse code message that will be visible around the world from next month, the mission commander said Friday.

Researchers hope the satellite, measuring 10 centimeters (four inches) cubed and launched from the International Space Station on Friday, will become the first orbiter to transmit an LED message across the night sky.

A Puerto Rican frog about the size of a peanut received federal protection Wednesday, ending a long battle to list it as an endangered species.

The habitat of the coqui llanero, which is the island's smallest tree frog, also received federal protection, covering 615 acres (249 hectares) of freshwater wetland in northern Puerto Rico.

Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke Thursday hit out at Japan's "alleged" scientific whaling as researchers hailed the testing of new acoustic tracking technology for the endangered blue whale.

Burke was given a demonstration of the science in the city of Hobart, where he applauded the innovation and dedication of those working to find out more about the threatened species -- the largest animal that has ever lived.

Researchers have identified a species of puny dinosaur so odd looking -- quills like a porcupine, a parrot-like beak and fangs like a vampire -- it probably deserved a small part in "Jurassic Park."

The finding was reported Wednesday in the online journal ZooKeys by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist and dinosaur specialist at the University of Chicago.

A rare Sumatran tiger has died after his transport to an Indonesia park was aborted and he was put on a second flight because plane passengers complained about the smell, an official said.

The eight-year-old big cat was being sent with other animals on a commercial flight Tuesday from Banda Aceh in the northern tip of Sumatra island to a conservation center on Java island.

Almost a century after a French colonial hunter put a bullet in what came to be viewed as the last Atlas lion living in the wild, a Moroccan zoo is struggling to claw the fabled subspecies back from the brink of extinction.

The majestic animal, also known as the Barbary lion and once common across north Africa, was eventually declared extinct after the 1922 hunt that saw it vanish from its natural environment.

 The NASA rover Curiosity has beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream, possibly waist-deep, once flowed on Mars — a find that the mission's chief scientist called exciting.

There have been previous signs that water existed on the red planet long ago, but the images released Thursday showing pebbles rounded off, likely by water, offered the most convincing evidence so far of an ancient streambed.

The Australian government admits the Great Barrier Reef has been neglected for decades after a study showed it has lost more than half its coral cover in the past 27 years.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said research released Tuesday by scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Wollongong should be setting off alarm bells across the country.

A giant supply ship burned up over the South Pacific early Wednesday in a self-destruct operation after a six-month mission to the International Space Station, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

Laden with rubbish from the ISS, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) undocked from the orbital outpost last Friday to begin its final maneuvers.

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.