A design for a super-fast transport system dubbed "Hyperloop" -- carrying passengers in pressurized tubes at near-supersonic speeds -- has been unveiled by inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Musk, who heads electric carmaker Tesla Motors (Xetra: A1CX3T - news) and private space exploration firm SpaceX, released a 57-page document describing the project, which he claimed could connect Los Angeles and San Francisco in 35 minutes.

There may be a scientific explanation for the vivid near-death experiences, such as seeing a shining light, that some people report after surviving a heart attack, U.S. scientists said Monday.

Apparently, the brain keeps on working for up to 30 seconds after blood flow stops, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The mass extinction of large animals in the Pleistocene era caused today's dearth of soil nutrients, scientists said Sunday, and warned of further damage if modern giants like the elephant disappear.

The Pleistocene epoch, which dated from about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago, saw large animals dubbed megafauna take over domination of the planet from extinct dinosaurs, only to die out en masse themselves.

Coastal waters off California are getting more acidic. Conifer forests on the lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains have moved to higher elevations over the past half-century.

Climate change is affecting natural resources in California, the most populous state in the U.S., a report released Thursday found.

Officials from the Pew Charitable Trusts and one of famed underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau's grandsons were in Bermuda on Thursday calling for the creation of the Atlantic's biggest marine reserve.

The ambitious "Blue Halo" plan would create a vast reserve in ecologically rich waters between the tiny mid-Atlantic territory's coastal fishing areas and its 200-mile (322-kilometer) exclusive economic zone boundary.

Stargazers will be treated to a spectacular fireball show early next week when Earth hits a belt of comet debris known as the Perseids, astronomers say.

The annual Perseid meteor shower, dubbed "the tears of St Lawrence" in honor of a martyred Christian saint, should peak in the wee hours of Monday and Tuesday with between 60 and 100 shooting stars per hour.

More than 124 bottlenose dolphins have washed up along the Atlantic coast since July, a startling number that has prompted US officials to launch an investigation into the mysterious deaths.

Scientists are working to find out if an infectious pathogen may be to blame since some of the dolphins appeared to have lesions in their lungs.

Forget elephants. Dolphins can swim circles around them when it comes to long-term memory.

Scientists in a new study repeatedly found that dolphins can remember the distinctive whistle — which acts as a name to the marine mammal — of another dolphin they haven't seen in two decades.

A new massive U.S. study says the world in 2012 sweltered with continued signs of climate change. Rising sea levels, snow melt, heat buildup in the oceans, and melting Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheets, all broke or nearly broke records, but temperatures only sneaked into the top 10.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday issued a peer-reviewed 260-page report, which agency chief Kathryn Sullivan calls its annual "checking on the pulse of the planet." The report, written by 384 scientists around the world, compiles data already released, but it puts them in context of what's been happening to Earth over decades.

Japan will accelerate efforts to prevent more radioactive groundwater from seeping into the ocean at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, government officials said Wednesday, as critics slam its operator's handling of the issue.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to order his government later in the day to hand over public money to help foot the bill for ramped-up measures, the first time that Tokyo has committed extra funds to deal with the growing problem.