A Japanese stem cell scientist, under pressure over inconsistencies in her groundbreaking research, has agreed to retract one of the two papers published in the respected journal Nature, reports said Thursday.

Haruko Obokata, 30, was feted after unveiling research that appeared to show a straightforward way to re-program adult cells to become a kind of stem cell.

A microscopic marine creature believed to have been extinct for four million years has been found alive and well in New Zealand waters, researchers said Thursday.

The animal, a tentacled polyp called protulophila, forms colonies inside sea worms and first appeared in the fossil record about 170 million years ago in Europe and the Middle East, government marine agency NIWA said.

Izabella Teixeira, Brazil's Minister of Environment, pictured during a press …

Brazil announced a package of pollution-cutting measures aimed at making this year's World Cup more environmentally friendly, ranging from an emissions-trading scheme to a "green passport" smart-phone application.

The point where the roiling ocean meets the fury of a hurricane's winds may hold the key to improving storm intensity forecasts — but it's nearly impossible for scientists to see.

That may change this summer, thanks to U.S. federal funding and a handful of winged drones that can spend hours spiraling in a hurricane's dark places. The drones will be transmitting data that could help forecasters understand what makes some storms fizzle while others strengthen into monsters.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday launched a push to get girls interested in science and technology, warning the country would miss out if it did not attract women to those fields.

"There's so much talent to be tapped if we're working together," Obama said at the annual White House Science Fair, where students from elementary to high school present winning projects.

A Japanese scientist and a German-born biophysicist were on Tuesday named joint winners of the prestigious $1 million Shaw Prize for their pioneering research into molecular production.

Kazutoshi Mori and Peter Walter received Asia's highest scientific honour in recognition of their contribution to the understanding of how several diseases can be better treated, organisers said. 

Russia has sent a European communications satellite into orbit from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean, after the last launch in 2013 ended with the satellite plunging into the sea.

The Zenit-3SL rocket blasted off at 2209 GMT on Monday from the Odyssey launch pad and reached its orbit around an hour later, said the Sea Launch international consortium, 95 percent of which is controlled by Russia.

Dutch police on Tuesday arrested six Greenpeace activists after they chained a Russian oil drilling platform destined for the Arctic to a dock to prevent it from leaving a Netherlands port.

"Police have arrested six of our activists. They are still in custody but we don't know what the charges are," protest coordinator Faiza Oulahsen told AFP.

Klaus Meier lists three reasons for generating his own electricity in his family hotel in Germany's southern city of Freiburg -- "cost savings, energy efficiency, climate protection".

Like a growing number of German small businesses, home-owners, schools, hospitals and industrial plants, Meier has opted for energy self-sufficiency.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have crossed a new threshold, the U.N.'s weather agency said Monday, highlighting the urgency of curbing manmade, climate-altering greenhouse gases.

In April, for the first time, the mean monthly CO2 concentration in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million (ppm) throughout the northern hemisphere, which pollutes more than the south, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.