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Nature's Direct Feed from |
Last updated on February 4th, 2012
| Prince optimistic for fisheries: Click here |
| Prince Charles says there are reasons to be optimistic about the state of the world's oceans, but it is "critically urgent" to tackle overfishing. |
| Largest optical telescope created: Click here |
| Astronomers at the Paranal observatory combine four telescope to create the world's largest virtual device with a 130m-mirror. |
| Striking galaxy image from Hubble: Click here |
| The Hubble space telescope captures an image of a "barred spiral" galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way. |
| Oil spurs Canadian PM China visit: Click here |
| Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit China next week to discuss Canada's oil products, after the US blocked a key pipeline. |
| Malaria toll 'is twice as high': Click here |
| The number of deaths worldwide from malaria has been underestimated, according to data published in the medical journal the Lancet. |
| Anti-fracking demo in Enniskillen: Click here |
| About 100 people gather in Enniskillen to demonstrate against the use of fracking to extract gas from shale rock in County Fermanagh. |
| VIDEO: Art by animals goes on show: Click here |
| A work of abstract expressionism by a chimp and a still life of a flower by an elephant are part of a new exhibition in London of artworks created by animals. |
| Brains may be wired for addiction: Click here |
| Abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts, according to scientists. |
| More Galileo satellites ordered: Click here |
| The German-UK consortium building the operational spacecraft for Europe's Galileo sat-nav system wins a contract to provide an additional eight units. |
| Humble moss 'brought on ice ages': Click here |
| Research shows that primitive moss-like plants could have helped cool the Earth 470 million years ago, bringing on mini ice ages. |
| Seagrass age surprises scientists: Click here |
| Meadows of seagrass, a keystone species in marine ecosystems, found in the Mediterranean Sea are likely to be tens of thousands of years old, a study shows. |
| Super-Earth 'could support life': Click here |
| Astronomers have found a fourth planet with conditions similar to Earth, which they say could support life. |
| In pictures: Science meets art: Click here |
| Winners of science photography contest dazzle |
| 'Supergiant' found in deepest sea: Click here |
| A huge crustacean called a supergiant - more than 30cm long - has been discovered 7km down in the waters north of New Zealand. |
| Mega volcanoes 'may be predicted': Click here |
| The eruption of some of the largest volcanoes on the planet could be predicted decades before the event, research suggests. |
| MP's call to pardon 'hero' Turing: Click here |
| An MP tables a motion calling for computer pioneer Alan Turing to be posthumously pardoned over a conviction for gross indecency. |
| Spider sex trick boosts paternity: Click here |
| Some male spiders voluntarily "castrate" themselves during sex in order to increase their chances of fathering offspring, according to a new study. |
| Science decodes 'internal voices': Click here |
| Researchers turn brain waves from thoughts of words into actual words, in a breakthrough that could benefit comatose and locked-in patients. |
| Self-steering bullet researched: Click here |
| US researchers are developing a bullet that guides itself to a laser-illuminated target. But an expert is concerned it may be sold to the public. |
| Isolated Peruvian tribe pictured: Click here |
| A Spanish archaeologist has snapped the most-detailed pictures ever seen of an "uncontacted" tribe in the Amazon. |
| Rhino poachers in SA get 25 years: Click here |
| Three Mozambicans are sentenced to 25 years each in a South African court for rhino poaching, according to the South African national parks body. |
| 'Big cat' theory ruled out by DNA: Click here |
| Scientists fail to find any evidence that "big cats" killed two roe deer found dead in Gloucestershire. |
| Spider web's strength explained: Click here |
| Explaining the remarkable strength of spiders' webs |
| Ancient giant crocodile discovery: Click here |
| 'Shieldcroc' is an ancient, extinct crocodile that's been discovered by scientists studying fossils in Missouri in the US. |
| Canada firm halts Argentina mine: Click here |
| After protests by Argentine environmental campaigners, a Canadian mining firm is suspending its exploration work on a project in La Rioja province. |
| Search for Cuba offshore oil begins: Click here |
| Search begins for Cuba's offshore oil deposits |
| Gorillas grin 'to reassure pals': Click here |
| Gorillas bare their teeth in a playful "grin" to reassure one another as they play, scientists discover. |
| Pythons link to mammals decline: Click here |
| Non-native Burmese pythons are the likely cause of a severe decline in mammals living in Florida's Everglades region, a study suggests. |
| Search for black squirrels begins: Click here |
| Scientists want the UK public to report their sightings of black squirrels, in order to estimate the rate at which they are spreading. |
| VIDEO: 'Green' tour of London Olympics site: Click here |
| A look around the site of what is pledged to be the "greenest ever" Olympic Games. |
| VIDEO: Lifting the Cutty Sark into place: Click here |
| The historic tea clipper will be reopened to the public in spring 2012. Part of the conservation work included lifting her 3m off the ground. |
| VIDEO: Science converts thoughts into speech: Click here |
| Scientists have unveiled a new technique for decoding human brainwaves and then converting them into speech. |
| VIDEO: How do you weigh a polar bear?: Click here |
| Staff at Highland Wildlife Park are trying to weigh Walker the polar bear who is thought to be about 400kg (63 stone). |
| VIDEO: Thai poachers target elephants for meat: Click here |
| Thailand's wildlife experts say that elephants could face extinction if they continue to be hunted as a source of meat. |
| VIDEO: Bats find shelter in Israeli bunkers: Click here |
| Bats are finding a surprising haven in abandoned Israeli bunkers, researchers say. |
| AUDIO: Bus-sized asteroid to pass by Earth: Click here |
| Astronomers are watching for an asteroid the size of a double-decker bus which will pass within 70,000km of Earth on Friday. |
| Totally tropical at Kew: Click here |
| A tour of Kew's Royal Botanic Gardens' exotic orchids |
| Green void looms after Huhne departure: Click here |
| What Huhne’s departure means to 'the greenest government ever' |
| Olympics shoot for green medal: Click here |
| Will London 2012 fulfil its ‘greenest Olympics’ pledge? |
| Do the dead outnumber the living?: Click here |
| Do the dead outnumber the living - or is it the other way round? |
| Giving an invasive water pest the bullet: Click here |
| Wrestling one of the UK's most invasive pests |
| Strangford life: Click here |
| Wildlife, landscape and heritage of Strangford Lough |
| Meet the galanthophiles: Click here |
| The strange world of snowdrop fanciers |