Archaeology & Paleontology

500,000-year-old TB case 'found' (BBC News, Dec. 7)

Lost pre-Inca treasure found in Spanish lock-up (Guardian, Dec. 6)

Easter Island Stone Heads Are 'Dying' (San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 6)

China Finds Panda Fossils On Tropical Island (Planet Ark/Reuters, Dec. 6)

Dwarf Hippo Fossils Found on Cyprus (LiveScience/AP, Dec. 6)

Ancient kangaroo didn't hop: scientists (Yahoo News/AFP, Dec. 6)

Israelis uncover mansion linked to queen (Yahoo News/AP, Dec. 6)

Rewrites Viking history [Massive Viking halls discovered] (Aftenposten, Dec. 5)

Rare ancient wooden throne found in Herculaneum (Yahoo News/Reuters, Dec. 4)

Neanderthals Grew Up Faster than Humans (Yahoo News/LiveScience, Dec. 4)

2 Ancient Graveyards Found Near Damascus (Guardian/AP, Dec. 4)

Chinese archaeologists dig up 4,000-year-old city (TerraDaily/AFP, Dec. 4)

Viking Farms Tell Cautionary Climate Tale (NPR, Dec. 3)

Baby's Ashes Discovered in Ancient Jar (National Geographic News/AP, Dec. 3)

Environment

Oil spill after S Korea collision (BBC News, Dec. 7)

Mangroves Help Indonesia Fend Off Climate Change (Planet Ark/Reuters, Dec. 7)

Forest Loss in Sumatra Becomes a Global Issue (N.Y. Times, Dec. 6) Site requires free registration

WWF says warming puts Amazon at risk (Yahoo News/AP, Dec. 6)

Senate Panel Passes Bill to Limit Greenhouse Gases (N.Y. Times, Dec. 6) Site requires free registration

Bangladesh To Seek World Heritage Aid For Sundarbans (Planet Ark/Reuters, Dec. 6)

River Runs Purple, Contaminates Greek Town (Planet Ark/Reuters, Dec. 6)

Six places in the world where climate change could cause political turmoil (Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 6)

EPA Urged To Cut Pollution From Aircraft (ENN, Dec. 5)

Uganda plans to boost forest cover (ENN/Reuters, Dec. 5)

Sinking Islanders Seek Help at Bali Climate Conference (National Geographic News, Dec. 5)

Exploration & Adventure

Travel Maps Of The Lunar North Pole (ScienceDaily, Dec. 6)

Kampire Dior - A road less traveled (MountEverest.net, Dec. 6)

Woman completes 3000km outback trek (Herald Sun, Dec. 6)

Solar-powered taxi seeks to go around world (ENN/Reuters, Dec. 5)

Japanese eco-adventurer out to ride the waves (AFP, Dec. 5)

Medicine & Health

Proof broken hearts can be fatal (BBC News, Dec. 7)

Cell transplant for heart attack (BBC News, Dec. 6)

Normal ageing 'can addle brain' (BBC News, Dec. 6)

Inactivity link to mental decline (BBC News, Dec. 6)

Are Humans Evolving Faster? (PhysOrg, Dec. 6)

'Superbug' Infections More Than Doubled In Hospitals, Study Finds (ScienceDaily, Dec. 6)

Generosity May Be Genetically Programmed (ScienceDaily, Dec. 6)

'Scrambled' polymers kill drug-resistant bacteria (New Scientist, Dec. 6)

Sickle-cell mice cured with their own cells (New Scientist, Dec. 6)

Can our bodies adapt to being night owls? (BBC News, Dec. 5)

The gene that makes us once bitten, twice shy [Mutation helps to determine whether we repeat our mistakes] (Nature News, Dec. 5)

Peoples & Culture

French culture under fire (BBC News, Dec. 7)

Japan's Bloggers: Humble Giants of the Web (Washington Post, Dec. 6) Site requires free registration

Canada signs Inuit autonomy plan (BBC News, Dec. 6)

Tigers Pitted Against Tribes by Indian Forest Law (National Geographic News, Dec. 5)

Natural Disasters & Weather

Epic Flood Triggered Ancient "Big Chill," Study Says (National Geographic News, Dec. 6)

A plan for monitoring Africa's weather (Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 5)

Global and U.S. Hazards/Climate Extremes (updated weekly on Wednesdays)

Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet [pdf] (updated late Fridays)

People & Places in the News

Kenya battles swarms of locusts (BBC News, Dec. 7)

Hindu gods get summons from court (BBC News, Dec. 7)

105 die in China mine explosion (BBC News, Dec. 7)

Engineers: North Pole Not an Optimal Base for Santa (NPR, Dec. Dec. 6)

Old Havana Gets a Lift, but Cubans Don’t Benefit (N.Y. Times, Dec. 6) Site requires free registration

Organ failure fells longest-living artificial heart recipient (L.A. Times, Dec. 6)

Plants & Animals

Giant pandas under threat from parasitic worm (New Scientist, Dec. 7)

Scientists trying to save Coral Triangle (Yahoo News/AP, Dec. 7)

Catch cuts 'bring bigger profits' (BBC News, Dec. 7)

"Zombie" Roaches Lose Free Will Due to Wasp Venom (National Geographic News, Dec. 6)

Indian police bust tiger poaching ring (Yahoo News/AP, Dec. 6)

'Hellish' hot springs yield greenhouse gas-eating bug (PhysOrg, Dec. 6)

Why Whales Sing (LiveScience, Dec. 6)

Toads In A Hole? Fungal Disease Threatens UK Toad Population (ScienceDaily, Dec. 6)

New, Rare And Threatened Species Discovered In Ghana (ScienceDaily, Dec. 6)

Climate Change Will Significantly Increase Impending Bird Extinctions (ScienceDaily, Dec. 6)

World's most endangered gorilla fights back (ENN/WCS, Dec. 6)

Aggression protein found in mice (BBC News, Dec. 5)

How elephants keep tabs on family (BBC News, Dec. 5)

China’s Turtles, Emblems of a Crisis (N.Y. Times, Dec. 5) Site requires free registration

Manatees Retain Endangered Status (N.Y. Times/AP, Dec. 5) Site requires free registration

Science & Technology

Light to shrink computer clusters (BBC News, Dec. 6)

Flexible-jointed robot is no pushover (New Scientist, Dec. 6)

Magma "Ocean" May Have Flowed Inside Early Earth (National Geographic News, Dec. 5)

Earth Monitoring: The planetary panopticon (Nature News, Dec. 5)

New Hypothesis For Origin Of Life Proposed (TerraDaily/SPX, Dec. 5)

Space

The final frontier for solar energy (BBC News, Dec. 7)

UK team bid for Google moon prize (BBC News, Dec. 7)

Technical glitch delays US shuttle launch (Yahoo News/AFP, Dec. 7)

Dark Matter May Have Powered Universe's First Stars (National Geographic News, Dec. 6)

Sun's Mysterious Waves Found; May Be Solar Wind Source (National Geographic News, Dec. 6)

Columbus: Europe's orbital outpost (BBC News, Dec. 6)

Saturn's 'flying saucer' moons built of ring material (New Scientist, Dec. 6)

Planets can survive extreme roasting by their stars (New Scientist, Dec. 6)

Moon Formed Volcanoes Early, Rock Study Shows (National Geographic News, Dec. 5)

Mars rover Spirit escapes from sandy 'dungeon' (New Scientist, Dec. 4)

Lectures, Meetings, & Conferences

Sources:

Conference Calendar for Zoology (BIOSIS)

Meridian International Center Events

National Academy of Sciences Events

National Air and Space Museum Events

National Journal Daybook [includes environment-related events in Washington]

National Museum of Natural History Events

National Press Club

Smithsonian Resident Associate Programs