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Greenpeace Activists Break into French Nuclear Plant

Several dozen Greenpeace campaigners snuck into a nuclear plant in southern France at dawn on Monday, in the latest such break-in by the environmental group.

The activists managed to enter the grounds of the Tricastin plant, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Marseille, at around 5:00 am (0300 GMT), Greenpeace and police said.

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Countries Mull Antarctic Marine Sanctuary Plans

Countries that regulate fishing in the Antarctic are meeting in an effort to break an impasse over proposals to create marine sanctuaries off the continent's coast.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which brings together 24 countries and the European Union, meets Monday and Tuesday in the German port city of Bremerhaven.

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Study: Habitat Loss Doubles Coastal Flood Impact

Removing mangroves, marshes, reefs, forests, dunes and other natural defenses doubles the risk for life and property from coastal floods, a U.S. climate study said on Sunday.

In the most detailed analysis of the risks facing Americans from rising seas, researchers led by Katie Arkema at Stanford University in California built a computer model of coasts in the continental United States.

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Human-Powered Helicopter Wins U.S. Prize

A Canadian-built helicopter that is powered by a human riding a bicycle has become the first winner of a decades-old $250,000 engineering prize, the U.S. awarder said Friday.

The American Helicopter Society had never given out its Igor Sikorsky Human-Powered Helicopter Award -- initiated 33 years ago -- until the team from the University of Toronto snatched it this week.

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Astronomers Find Blue Planet Outside Solar System

Astronomers have for the first time managed to determine the color of a planet outside our solar system, a blue gas giant 63 light-years away.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, an international team said the planet known as HD 189733B would look like a deep blue dot if viewed up close.

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Spread of DNA Databases Sparks Ethical Concerns

You can ditch your computer and leave your cellphone at home, but you can't escape your DNA.

It belongs uniquely to you — and, increasingly, to the authorities.

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Planet Reveals its True Colours

Astronomers said Thursday they had found another blue planet a long, long way from Earth -- no water world, but a scorching, hostile place where it rains glass, sideways.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists from NASA and its European counterpart, ESA, have for the first time determined the true color of an exoplanet, celestial bodies which orbit stars other than our own Sun.

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Big Quakes Trigger Tremors at U.S. Oil and Gas Sites

Large earthquakes around the world have been found to trigger tremors at U.S sites where wastewater from gas drilling operations is injected into the ground, a U.S. study said Thursday.

For instance, the massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan in 2011 set off a swarm of earthquakes in the western Texas town of Snyder near the Cogdell oil field, culminating in a 4.5 magnitude quake there about six months later, said the research in the journal Science.

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Solar System has a Tail, Just Like Comets

Our solar system has a tail, just like comets. Now the U.S. space agency can prove it.

Scientists revealed images Wednesday showing the tail emanating from the bullet-shaped region of space under the grip of the sun, including the solar system and beyond. The region is known as the heliosphere, and the tail is called the heliotail.

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Japan: Radioactive Water Likely Leaking to Pacific

Japan's nuclear regulator says radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima power plant is probably leaking into the Pacific Ocean, a problem long suspected by experts but denied by the plant's operator.

Officials from the Nuclear Regulation Authority said a leak is "strongly suspected" and urged plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to determine where the water may be leaking from and assess the environmental and other risks, including the impact on the food chain. The watchdog said Wednesday it would form a panel of experts to look into ways to contain the problem.

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