Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday ordered the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to work out a schedule for stemming radioactive water leaks as he toured the facility.

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) had "to resolve the leaky water problem by setting a timeline", Abe told journalists traveling with him.

Scientists studying reefs off Australia said Thursday sharks play a fundamental role in the health of coral, and overfishing of them made reefs more vulnerable to global warming and weather disasters.

A research team, led by Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), studied the impact of sharks at the Rowley Shoals and Scott Reefs 300 kilometers (185 miles) off northwest Australia over 10 years.

Orbital Sciences Corp launched the first flight of its unmanned Cygnus cargo ship Wednesday to the International Space Station, as NASA forges ahead with its plan to privatize U.S. space missions.

"This is just the beginning of what we can do to support human space flight," Orbital executive vice president Frank Culbertson, a retired NASA astronaut, told reporters after Cygnus went into orbit around the Earth.

Margaret Buckingham, a Scottish-born biologist, has been awarded one of France's top science prizes, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) announced on Wednesday.

It said it was awarding her its gold medal -- a prize that in the past has singled out several scientists who later won the Nobel -- for pioneering work in gene regulation.

Scientists using a wind tunnel and a full-scale model have shed light on how feathery dinosaurs adapted to the skies, a study said on Wednesday.

A widening consensus among palaeontologists is that birds evolved from small, feathery dinos -- but the question is: how?

Russian coast guards on Wednesday arrested two Greenpeace activists who scaled an oil platform owned by state energy giant Gazprom in the Arctic to protest oil drilling in defiance of warning shots, the environmental group and officials said.

The activists set off before dawn in inflatables launched by Greenpeace mothership the Arctic Sunrise and headed towards Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Pechora Sea, Greenpeace said in a statement.

Thai police Tuesday said they had seized almost 200 live protected pangolins, which are prized in China and Vietnam as an exotic meal and for use in traditional medicine.

The animals -- known as "scaly anteaters" -- were discovered on Monday in two pick-up trucks that were stopped by highway police in the province of Udon Thani in the country's northeast.

The operator of the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday that it dumped more than 1,000 tons of polluted water into the sea after a typhoon raked the facility.

Typhoon Man-yi smashed into Japan on Monday, bringing with it heavy rain that caused flooding in some parts of the country, including the ancient city of Kyoto.

Environmentalists on Monday unveiled unprecedented footage of a legendary sea creature, the giant oarfish, as they stepped up a campaign against bottom trawling.

The origin of the myth of the sea serpent -- a snake deemed capable of capsizing vessels and swallowing crew -- the giant oarfish reaches a length of 11 meters (36 feet) and more than 250 kilos (550 pounds).

In the coastal redwood forests of central California, scientists trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the reproductive problems of dozens of endangered condors think they have uncovered the culprit: the long-banned pesticide DDT.

The soaring scavengers with wingspans wider than NBA players are tall were reintroduced to the rugged coast of Big Sur in 1997 after a century-long absence. Upon arrival, the birds found plenty to eat, with dead California sea lions and other marine mammals littering the craggy shoreline.