AP - A thumbnail-sized clam blamed for clouding the azure bays of Lake Tahoe high in the Sierra Nevada has now turned up in a mountain-ringed Adirondack lake renowned for its limpid, spring-fed waters.

AP - Pushed by an ill-timed trough of low pressure, Hurricane Earl is heading uncomfortably close to an area relatively few hurricanes tend to go: the Northeast coastline.

AP - The U.N.'s climate chief says poor countries are right to expect that any funding they receive to combat global warming be kept separate from development aid or poverty relief.

LiveScience.com - Traditional methods of evaluating dogs for hip dysplasia risk may miss 80 percent of cases, according to a new study.

AP - Icelike crystals had formed Saturday on the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing BP crews to wait before they could safely hoist the device to the surface.

AFP - The Macondo well, which spilled an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, has been secured and no longer constitutes "a threat," a senior US official said Saturday.

AFP - NASA said it is developing a car-sized satellite that by "no later than 2018" will plunge into the sun's outer atmosphere for an up-close study of its super-hot corona, solar wind and lethal radiation.

Reuters - A biotechnology company's genetically engineered salmon are as safe to eat as other Atlantic salmon, U.S. regulators said as they weighed approval of the first DNA-altered animal for Americans' dinner plates.

AP - A Tasmanian devil named Cedric, once thought to be immune to a contagious facial cancer threatening the iconic creatures with extinction, has been euthanized after succumbing to the disease, researchers said Wednesday.

AP - A Sacramento restaurant agreed to stop serving live shrimp after an animal-rights group said the practice was cruel to the shellfish.

LiveScience.com - Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems.

Reuters - BP Plc's ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well is secure with no threat of spewing crude again, the top U.S. official overseeing the spill response said

AP - The remnants of Hurricane Earl took aim at Nova Scotia early Saturday after a brush with the Northeast that was far less intense than feared, dumping heavy, wind-driven rain on Cape Cod cottages and fishing villages accustomed to nor'easters.

SPACE.com - The former Hurricane Earl put on a striking weather display for astronauts on the International Space Station, impressing the crew with its strength even as it weakened to a tropical storm.

Time.com - A new study finds people who are genetically predisposed to obesity may benefit most from physical activity

AFP - Prosecutors have called for French state energy giant EDF, accused of spying on environmental campaigners Greenpeace, to face criminal trial, EDF lawyer Alexis Gublin said Saturday.

Reuters - Tropical Storm Gaston could soon come swirling back to life over the central Atlantic Ocean, U.S. forecasters said on Saturday.