Coral reefs are considered one of the most important tropical marine habitats. They are hotspots of biodiversity and productivity, so their vulnerability to environmental change has prompted efforts around the world to help manage and conserve threatened reefs. But, according to new work, another tropical environment also provides crucial support to organisms and has been somewhat overlooked be...

There are now so few areas of natural environment in the world that have not been subject to biological survey or disturbance so the discovery of new species in recent expeditions to some of these regions has been proving remarkable, although large 'new' vertebrates are now increasingly rare. However, a recent analysis of material collected from lizard specimens in the northern Philippines has ...

negotiators told a private meeting. Yet, in the event, climate change and the need for a 'green recovery' only made paragraph 27 and 28 of the 29-paragraph communiqué. Language, already weak in the final draft, was watered down even further by the leaders at the end of the summit and, after the initial euphoria, commentators have been increasingly concerned that the summit delivered too little ...

of Virginia's governor Tim Kaine to sign a bill banning the use of certain state funds for embryonic stem cell research. This move has an ironic twist as Obama nominated Kaine as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a position he will take on full time when his term as governor expires next January. In Germany, production of and research with new stem cell lines are still off limits, ...