Christopher Joyce

The international report card is out and confirms the hottest average on record — for a third time in 15 years. More than 400 scientists contributed data, finding a spike in sea and air temperatures.

Monday's decision from the high court technically only applies to the Clean Air Act's standards on mercury emissions from power plants. But it could affect future EPA regulations, legal experts say.

To stop elephant slaughter in Africa, zoologist Sam Wasser spent years extracting DNA from elephant dung and tissue. Much of the world's poached ivory, he discovered, comes from just two hotspots.

The new evidence suggests the ancient skeleton is closely related to members of a Washington state tribe. The findings are likely to rekindle an old debate between scientists and Native Americans.

Atlantic cod have become scarce along the coast, though catch limits have been reduced by 80 percent. Researchers are now tracking the sound of mating cod, hoping to help fishing boats avoid them.

The ocean's tiniest inhabitants — including bacteria, plankton, krill — are food for most everything that swims or floats. Now, scientists have completed a count of this vast and diverse hidden world.

Royal Dutch Shell can drill oil exploration wells this summer in the Chukchi Sea, if Shell shows it can prevent and clean up a potential spill. Environmentalists are skeptical; Shell says it's ready.

Scientists working in East Africa say they've unearthed the oldest stone tools ever found. They were apparently made 500,000 years before the human lineage evolved.

A team led by Sonia Harmand from Stony Brook University in New York found the tools in Kenya, near Lake Turkana. It's an area ...

The White House proposal will be submitted at the next big climate meeting in Paris this December. It marks the beginning of a worldwide plan for countries to combat climate change.

The rate at which the ice is shrinking at the ocean's edge in the West Antarctic has increased by 70 percent over the past decade, an analysis of satellite measurements suggests.

It's all in the timing. Biologists haven't been able to breed embryos of the rare, pillar coral in the lab because it's been tough to catch the creatures in the act.

The length of the average car loan isn't just creeping up, it's leaping up. Nearly 40 percent of people secure car loans that take more than five years to pay off. The trend has some analysts alarmed.

Four tropical cyclones have been sweeping through the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. One slammed into the island nation of Vanuatu. Having four cyclones at once is rare but not unheard of.

This sea monster swam Earth's seas about 480 million years ago and was the biggest creature of its day, scientists say.

The 2.8 million-year-old bone may mark the first human branch in the primate family tree. It wasn't just a bigger brain that marked the shift, scientists say. It was also big changes in the mouth.

Birders especially know that Cuba harbors hundreds of rarely seen, little-studied species. As the island nation opens to more U.S. visitors, scientists hope "green Cuba" can survive increased tourism.

Bad news for bivalves comes this week from scientists studying ocean acidification.

Ocean water in parts of the world is changing. Its chemistry is very slowly becoming more acidic, like lemon juice, and less alkaline, a la baking soda.

The change so far is small — you wouldn't notice if ...

A scientist estimating the weight of candy wrappers, bags, bottles, syringes and other plastic trash in the world's water sees a synthetic tsunami. Should China and India create more landfills?

Most of the seafood Americans eat is imported; a lot of that is illegally caught. Now, environmentalists are using satellites to track pirate vessels on the high seas and help crack down on the trade.

The rules are mostly voluntary, which disappoints environmental groups, but they should ratchet down the amount of leaked methane from new or modified oil and gas operations, which contributes to climate change.