Bill would exempt municipal fireworks displays from Coastal Act regulation

Describing seaside fireworks displays as wholesome and patriotic, an Orange County legislator wants to prevent the California Coastal...

Willi Dansgaard dies at 88; scientist who recognized climate record in ice cap

Willi Dansgaard, a Danish paleoclimatologist who was the first to recognize that the Earth's climatic history was stored in the Greenland...

A growing danger for athletes

Just two days after the start of the winter strength-and-conditioning program, Jim Poggi, a University of Iowa freshman football player,...

Tiny water flea has longest genome

Humans like to think of themselves as residing at the top of the evolutionary chain, but the tiny water flea beats them out by at least...

Turning sunlight into fuel

"At the California Institute of Technology, they're developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars," President Obama...

FDA approves medical-image software for Apple mobile devices

Add diagnosing soft-tissue injuries to online banking, e-mail, video games and thousands of other applications available for the iPad,...

Agency OKs plan to let industry expand in L.A. region using pollution credits

Southern California air quality officials adopted a plan Friday to allow industry to expand in the Los Angeles region by tapping into a...

FDA approves drug to reduce risk of premature births

For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a drug to reduce the risk of premature delivery, although it...

Dr. Ernest McCulloch dies at 84; he and research partner were first to isolate and identify a stem cell

Dr. Ernest McCulloch, who with biophysicist James E. Till was the first to isolate and identify a stem cell, opening the door immediately to...

Shell Alaska drops plan for Arctic offshore drilling this year

Shell announced Thursday it would not conduct exploratory drilling in Arctic waters off Alaska this year after a ruling last month revoked...

BP royalty payments in gulf spill face scrutiny

As oil gushed from its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico last year, BP vowed to contribute any money from the sale of recovered oil to a...

Mosquito subspecies presents challenge in fighting malaria

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown subspecies of mosquito in West Africa that is highly susceptible to the malaria parasite...

NASA finds dozens of planets that might support life

A catalog of possible planets discovered far out in space includes more than 50 candidates that could possibly support life, NASA scientists...

EPA to regulate toxic chemicals in drinking water

The Environmental Protection Agency took steps Wednesday to curb toxic substances in drinking water, including perchlorate, a chemical...

Some stem cells hold on to their past, researchers say

Stem cells made from mature cells and rewound to an embryonic-like state retain a distinct "memory" of their past that might limit their...