Christopher Joyce

Scientists wince when people blame every big tropical cyclone, heat wave or drought on a shifting climate. But now some are trying to figure out just what the evidence for such a link would be.

Heads of state from well over 100 countries came to New York City this week to find ways to slow climate change. The summit is a dry run for a meeting next year to draft a treaty on global warming.

It roamed land and sea and snacked on giant fish. The first few spinosaurus bones were discovered a century ago, but destroyed in WWII. A more complete, second specimen reveals a terrifying predator.

Domestic cats, high-rises and vanishing habitat are taking a toll on more than 33 species of American birds, a comprehensive update reports. Still, wetland and coastal birds are faring better.

In the moonscape of Death Valley, one mystery stands out: boulders that seem to creep along the desert floor when nobody's looking. Thanks to video and GPS, scientists now think they know why.

Peaks around Glacier National Park store water that irrigates a large section of North America. But a warming climate is shrinking that snowpack, with ominous consequences for wildlife and people.

Two New England towns dominated the world's ivory market from 1840 to 1940 — transforming imported tusks from African elephants into piano keys and combs. Today's residents grapple with a dark past.

Marine biologists worry that certain species won't survive the shifts in sea acidity that climate change brings. But research on sea grasses along California's coast suggest marine preserves can help.

Steve Inskeep talks to Israeli author Etgar Keret about tensions on the streets of Tel Aviv during the current violence with Hamas, and what the difference is between peace and compromise.

Maybe it was messier than we thought, some scientists now say. Big brains, long legs and long childhoods may have evolved piecemeal in different spots, in response to frequent swings in climate.

Evidence from bone growth now suggests that T. rex and its kin had the best of both worlds. Their muscles and nerves fired fast like ours, but they burned energy slowly, more like lizards do.

Pluck the silk of a spider web and it vibrates like a guitar string, scientists say. By strumming the strands and detecting the tune via sensors in its legs, a spider gets key information.

Large mammal migration in Africa has generally been hindered by the subdivision and fencing of land. But this one remains possible because it takes place in a unique, multi-country wildlife corridor.

Climate change in the West is luring rainbow trout to higher elevations, where the fish are mating with native cutthroats, genetic evidence shows. Biologists and anglers worry cutthroats could vanish.

Scientists who track carbon say the way it cycles from the atmosphere back to earth and into plants and animals has apparently changed. It could be the whole planetary carbon treadmill is speeding up.

Nir Kalron was once an Israeli commando, then private security consultant to African leaders, and a dealer of legal arms. Today he's working with African locals to hunt ivory poachers via satellite.

Andrea Turkalo spent 22 years in central Africa, studying rare forest elephants. Then civil war forced her to flee — and poachers killed many of the elephants she'd shared a life with.

The Smithsonian is set to unpack something it's never had before: a rare, nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. It's a gift from a Montana museum that says this T. rex deserves to be famous.

The world's biggest extinction some 250 million years ago wiped out 90 percent of all living things. What caused it has puzzled scientists, and now they think microbes may have done it.

OK, maybe it just munched vegetation, small animals and eggs. But this newly named dino looked like a cross between a chicken and a bulked-up ostrich. Five-inch claws? We'd have stayed out of its way.