A federal judge yesterday severely limited the Navy's ability to use mid-frequency sonar on a training range off the Southern California coast, ruling that the loud sounds would harm whales and other marine mammals if not tightly controlled.

  Taylor Lockwood never paid much attention to mushrooms. But when he moved from Los Angeles to the redwood-carpeted northern California community of Mendocino during the warm, wet winter of 1984, he found himself surrounded by them. Thus began an unabashedly obsessive love affair between the...

  Endangered green sea turtles are enjoying a slow but steady recovery at six major nesting grounds, according to a new analysis going back 30 years. The findings suggest that conservation efforts are pulling the large reptiles back from the brink of extinction.

  A federal judge in California is scheduled to release a decision this week that will outline what the Navy must do to protect whales and other marine mammals from the loud blasts of its sonar equipment.

  For centuries, humans have mythologized the bluefin tuna, an elite, warmblooded fish that can traverse the Atlantic basin in less than a month and a half and grow to weigh three-quarters of a ton. Romans put bluefin on their coins; Salvador Dali painted them.

  The Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, identified all 3 billion letters of genetic code that together control the development of a person. But human DNA is but a small portion of the DNA in every human. There are 10 times as many microbial cells in every person as human cells. And though they...

  Astronaut Daniel Tani, orbiting Earth aboard the international space station, learned Wednesday that his mother had died in a car crash, marking what NASA officials believe is the first time a crew member has lost a close family member while in flight.