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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even at its biggest, Arctic sea ice extent this winter was among the smallest ever seen, apparently tying with 2006 for the least amount of ice covering the region around the North Pole, U.S. researchers reported. Sea ice on the Arctic Ocean usually starts growing in September and hits its maximum area in February or March; this year, the maximum appeared to occur on March 7, when ice stretched over 5.65 million square miles (14.64 million square km), according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center

Dear Scientific American Reader: Scientific American is conducting a survey about the future of cities, the results of which will be published in the magazine along with a series of articles on urban life in the 21st century. The survey will poll elected officials, academics, policymakers, and opinion leaders, including Scientific American readers, about ways to improve cities and their livability.

Pervasive, elusive and tough, cancer has proved to be a formidable foe against generations of bright and well-funded researchers. [More]

Some 15,500 years ago early nomadic North Americans had already set up camp near Buttermilk Creek in central Texas's hill country, where they left behind impressive array of stone tools and artifacts. [More]

VIENNA, March 24 (Reuters) - Japanese scientists have found measurable concentrations of radioactive iodine-131 and caesium-137 in seawater samples taken 30 km (18 miles) from land, the U.N. [More]

By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The closing of aging nuclear reactors is expected to peak in 2020-30, posing a major challenge in terms of safety and the environment, a draft U.N. atomic agency report says

Underlying the wave of unrest across North Africa and the Middle East is the fact that some of the cries for democracy are coming from mouths in need of food. Media outlets around the world were quick to make the link between food and the protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, pointing to one specific grain: wheat. Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, with Algeria not far behind.

Dear EarthTalk : Recent news reports have revealed the discovery of previously unknown species inhabiting the deepest parts of our oceans. Is anything being done to protect this habitat before humans have a chance to fish it to death or otherwise destroy it? --Matthew Polk, Gary, Ind.

An oil spill off the South Atlantic island of Nightingale has put nearly half of the world's population of endangered northern rockhopper penguins ( Eudyptes moseleyi ) at risk. The Maltese-registered ship MS Olivia ran aground on Nightingale Island on March 16. The New York Times reported Wednesday that more than 725 metric tons of fuel oil--half the cargo--had already leaked from the ship, surrounding the island in an 13-kilometer-wide oil slick.

“That was a really impressive exam. Why don’t you write your dissertation on that subject

The sex hormones that bathe a fetus in the womb are some of the earliest and most potent determinates of gender differences in brain structure and social behavior. But other chemicals produced by the human body more subtly tweak the neural pathways underlying these distinctions. Endocannabinoids, natural compounds in the brain that excite the same receptors as marijuana, influence gender-specific behaviors, according to a study published in November in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Most people know two things about helium. One is that it makes your voice comically high-pitched when you inhale it; the other is that it is extremely light, which is why balloons filled with the stuff float upward through the heavier air. But in particle physics terms--and especially when it comes to the nuclear physics of antimatter--helium is no lightweight.

As workers race to stave off further melting at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan , several robots there are waiting on the sidelines for an opportunity to help. Questions remain, however, regarding how these units might assist in an ongoing emergency at a site contaminated with radiation and deluged with tons of corrosive seawater . [More]

By Janelle Weaver Researchers in Japan have made fertile mammalian sperm in a culture dish, a feat long thought to be impossible. [More]

By Tom Doggett and Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The failure of the underwater blowout preventer that led to the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by the inability of attached cutting devices to shear and seal the pipe of the leaking well, the U.S. government said on Wednesday.