Researchers begin a three-year study to uncover the secrets of St Kilda's super-sized field mice.

Hundreds of sharks have been spotted off the Queensland coast.

Hurricane Earl weakens as it nears the US East Coast, though officials warn it remains "large and powerful".

Less than five months after the largest oil spill in US history, another fire has occurred on an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexicoimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5fd00c/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Briefing%3A+How+bad+is+the+new+Gulf+oil+rig+fire%3Flink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19395-briefing-how-bad-is-the-new-gulf-oil-rig-fire.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Briefing%3A+How+bad+is+the+new+Gulf+oil+rig+fire%3Flink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19395-briefing-how-bad-is-the-new-gulf-oil-rig-fire.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78868443433/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224382988/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78868443433/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224382988/a2.img" border="0"//a

Ultrafine measurements of atmospheric gases could help scientists track down the last sources of CFCs thought to be slowing the recovery of the ozone layer.

The government's chief environment scientist calls for more openness in admitting the UK's cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are an illusion.

The River Amazon has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years in north-eastern Peru, leaving boats stranded.

Why bed-bugs are on the march again

There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, the physicist and mathematician Professor Stephen Hawking has said.

A panel of physicists recommends keeping Fermilab's Tevatron collider alive for an extra three years, but others worry about collateral damageimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5f40c5/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Physicists+divided+over+life+extension+for+US+colliderlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19394-physicists-divided-over-life-extension-for-us-collider.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Physicists+divided+over+life+extension+for+US+colliderlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19394-physicists-divided-over-life-extension-for-us-collider.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869504225/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224346309/kg/68/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869504225/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224346309/kg/68/a2.img" border="0"//a

There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, Professor Stephen Hawking concludes in a new book.

Cyanobacteria survived strong UV exposure for a billion years ndash; the secret to their success could be key to new sunscreens and "anti-ageing" productsimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5d9f88/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Ancient+bacteria+could+improve+anti-ageing+cosmeticslink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19392-ancient-bacteria-could-improve-antiageing-cosmetics.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Ancient+bacteria+could+improve+anti-ageing+cosmeticslink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19392-ancient-bacteria-could-improve-antiageing-cosmetics.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869489174/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224239496/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869489174/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224239496/a2.img" border="0"//a

A growing number of New York sky-scrapers switch off their lights at night to help reduce the number of migratory birds hitting the buildings.

There is much more to the cosmos than meets the eye. Astrophysicist bMichael Rowan-Robinson/b explores what invisible rays from radio to gamma have shown usimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5d1c8f/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Instant+Expert%3A+The+unseen+universelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fspecial%2Finstant-expert-the-unseen-universe%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Instant+Expert%3A+The+unseen+universelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fspecial%2Finstant-expert-the-unseen-universe%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869406194/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224205967/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869406194/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224205967/a2.img" border="0"//a

Future spacecraft could change their orbits simply by unfurling electrically conducting tethers ndash; Japan has now tested one in a suborbital missionimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5d97a3/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Space+ribbon+deployed+to+surf+Earth%27s+magnetic+fieldlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19393-space-ribbon-deployed-to-surf-earths-magnetic-field.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Space+ribbon+deployed+to+surf+Earth%27s+magnetic+fieldlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19393-space-ribbon-deployed-to-surf-earths-magnetic-field.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/div

All today's stories on NewScientist.com including: the flaws in criminal profiling, a birds-eye view of hurricane Earl and weird water inside planetsimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5d6ce6/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Today+on+New+Scientist%3A+2+September+2010link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Ftoday-on-new-scientist-2-septe.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Today+on+New+Scientist%3A+2+September+2010link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Ftoday-on-new-scientist-2-septe.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869409131/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224226534/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869409131/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224226534/a2.img" border="0"//a

A species of acacia tree found in Eastern Africa seems to be protected from elephant damage - by the ants that live on it.

Researchers map the nervous system of worms to try and understand how the human cerebral cortex evolved.

An astronaut on the International Space Station has captured a serene-looking view of hurricane Earl #8211; but things aren't so calm down belowimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5cdf46/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=A+birds-eye+view+of+hurricane+Earllink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Fa-birds-eye-view-of-hurricane.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=A+birds-eye+view+of+hurricane+Earllink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Fa-birds-eye-view-of-hurricane.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869406193/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224190278/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869406193/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224190278/a2.img" border="0"//a

By storing power for when it's needed most, speakers that plug into a USB port can produce high-quality sound without the need for mains powerimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5cd3d4/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Smart+USB+speakers+pump+up+the+volume+from+laptopslink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727765.800-smart-usb-speakers-pump-up-the-volume-from-laptops.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Smart+USB+speakers+pump+up+the+volume+from+laptopslink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727765.800-smart-usb-speakers-pump-up-the-volume-from-laptops.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869401278/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224187348/kg/26-63-68-168/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869401278/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224187348/kg/26-63-68-168/a2.img" border="0"//a