Study finds India doubled its tiger population in a decade and credits conservation efforts

BENGALURU, India (AP) — India doubled its tiger population in a little over a decade by protecting the big cats from poaching and habitat loss, ensuring they have enough prey, reducing human-wildlife conflict, and increasing communities’ living standards near tiger areas, a study published...

NASA's 2 stuck astronauts take their first spacewalk together

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s two stuck astronauts took their first spacewalk together Thursday, exiting the International Space Station almost eight months after moving in. Commander Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore removed a broken antenna and wiped the station’s exterior...

The oldest evidence for lead pollution comes from ancient Greece

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ancient Greece produced the earliest records of democracy, western philosophy — and, it turns out, lead pollution. Researchers studying sediment cores recovered from mainland Greece and the Aegean Sea have found the oldest known evidence of lead pollution in the...

NASA's two stuck astronauts take their first spacewalk together since arriving at the space station last year

Are we all aliens? NASA's returned asteroid samples hold the ingredients of life from a watery world

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday. The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that asteroids may have planted the...

First independently developed jet breaks the sound barrier over the California desert

A sleek white aircraft became the first independently developed jet to break the sound barrier Tuesday, tearing through the air tens of thousands of feet above the Mojave Desert and a crowd of delighted onlookers. The XB-1 aircraft accelerated to Mach 1.05 within about 11 minutes of...

Newly spotted asteroid has a tiny chance of hitting Earth in 2032

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A newly discovered asteroid has a tiny chance of smacking Earth in 2032, space agency officials said Wednesday. Scientists put the odds of a strike at slightly more than 1%. “We are not worried at all, because of this 99 percent chance...

Cold-stunned green sea turtles are recovering at a Florida marine life center

JUNO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An arctic blast that brought a rare snowfall to northern Florida last week left green sea turtles as far south as St. Augustine suffering from a condition known as cold stunning. Seventeen sea turtles that were found stranded along Florida's northeastern...

Many animals and plants are losing their genetic diversity, making them more vulnerable

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two-thirds of animal and plant populations are declining in genetic diversity, which makes it harder to adapt to environmental changes, according to research published Wednesday. Long before a species goes extinct, the population becomes smaller and more...

Tiger poachers use fishing boats to smuggle body parts out of Malaysia, study shows

BANGKOK (AP) — Commercial fishing fleets have been playing a key role in trafficking parts of tigers poached in Malaysia, according to research released Wednesday that could help enforcement efforts to save the critically endangered cat. The fishing boats are part of a network of...