The 15th-century explorer and his crew picked up syphilis-causing bacteria in the New World, a genetic study claims—though some experts say the evidence is inconclusive.
The massive land animals were killed off by illnesses and parasites, say the authors of a new book who looked at disease-carrying insects trapped for millions of years in amber.
Zookeepers say the tiny cub taken from its mother in Germany is probably female, but its organs aren't completely developed—"she" could still be a "he."
Medical and environmental experts are attributing recent malaria epidemics in the East African highlands to warmer temperatures and changing in rainfall patterns.
New species or diseased human? Scientists have homed in on the genetic causes of a rare growth condition and say it may explain the unusual "hobbit" recently found in Indonesia.
Take a photographic tour of the remote seed bank deep inside a Norwegian mountain that is designed to house the world's crop varieties in case of a global catastrophe.
A seed bank being built on a remote Arctic island could stem the global disappearance of little-known but potentially valuable agricultural plants, a conservationist claims.
Bone up on 2007's biggest archaeological discoveries—from Stonehenge's "lost" settlement to ancient Egypt's "female king"—with the most popular stories from our tombs-and-ruins beat.
Using samples originally collected by Charles Darwin nearly 200 years ago, scientists have found that windblown dust can carry microbes across whole oceans and continents.
Seven whales died in South Korea after a major oil spill earlier this month. Volunteers are cleaning the shoreline and removing bird-killing oil slicks.
