ROCKPORT, Maine (AP) ― Preventing endangered northern right whales from becoming entangled in lobster gear could be as simple as changing the color of rope, a whale researcher says.If the whales can see the fishing gear more clearly, then they are better able to avoid it, said Scott Kraus, a leading researcher on northern right whales.“We know they can see the ropes. We thought by making them more visible they might be like traffic cones” by steering whales away from danger, Kraus said at the Ma

Dutch scientists have developed the world’s smallest autonomous flapping drone, a dragonfly-like beast with 3-D vision that could revolutionize our experience of everything from pop concerts to farming.“This is the DelFly Explorer, the world’s smallest drone with flapping wings that’s able to fly around by itself and avoid obstacles,” its proud developer Guido de Croon of the Delft Technical University told AFP.Weighing just 20 grams, around the same as four sheets of printer paper, the robot dr

Scientists have reportedly created human lungs in a lab for the first time but the advance is unlikely to help patients for many years. CNN reported that researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston took lungs from two children who had died from trauma and stripped one of all damaged tissue, leaving scaffolding made of collagen and elastin. They then took cells from the other lung and put them on the scaffolding, immersed them in a liquid filled with nutrients to support ce

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Climate change is already hurting American farmers and rural residents, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday, warning that the U.S. would regret any failure to adapt and prepare for shifting weather realities.Unveiling a new effort to coordinate the government’s response, Vilsack said extreme weather events have already taken the U.S. by surprise, putting ranchers and others out of business. He pointed to the intensity and frequency of recent storms, long droughts,

SOCHI, Russia (AFP) ― Just outside the Olympic Park in Sochi, where the Winter Games open on Friday, is a green space with benches, artificial ponds and a couple of hides. “Ornithological Park,” the sign declares.The problem is that there is not a bird in sight in the park, which was set up as a replacement for sensitive wetlands that were covered over for the construction of Games venues.“It’s a profanation,” said Vladimir Zubakin, president of the Russian Bird Union, of the so-called park.Cris

Spanish researchers have created an electronic “tongue” capable of distinguishing between beer varieties and their alcohol content.The artificial organ was accurate nearly 82 percent of the time, said its creators ― and could be the first step toward developing robots with a sense of taste.The taster was made using 21 electrodes, each responsive to different chemical compounds, such as ammonium, sodium, nitrate and chloride, according to researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.Ex

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Starfish have been mysteriously dying by the millions in recent months along the U.S. west coast, worrying biologists who say the sea creatures are key to the marine ecosystem.Scientists first started noticing the mass deaths in June 2013. Different types of starfish, also known as sea stars, were affected, from wild ones along the coast to those in captivity, according to Jonathan Sleeman, director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center.“The two speci