AP - Along Utah's Nine Mile Canyon lies what some call the longest art gallery in the world — thousands of prehistoric rock carvings and paintings of bighorn sheep and other wildlife, hunters wielding spears, and warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat. But now, a dramatic increase in natural gas drilling is proposed on the plateau above the canyon, and preservationists fear trucks will kick up dust that will cover over the images.

AP - Fresh off a successful campaign to list polar bears as a threatened species, a conservation group is asking for similar protection for the bears' main prey.

AP - Robotic rovers have patrolled deep space and the deepest seas, but scientists are still struggling to create drones that can overcome the multiple challenges of exploring Antarctica.

AP - Scientists began releasing the robotic arm on NASA's new Mars spacecraft on Wednesday, one day late because of a radio problem. The Phoenix lander, which arrived on Mars on Sunday, is in excellent shape, said project manager Barry Goldstein. He said the communications glitch was only a blip in the robot's three-month exploration of the planet's northern arctic region.

AFP - ExxonMobil softened its tone on environmental responsibility and the need to invest in alternative energy sources Wednesday in the face of strong opposition from shareholders.

AFP - She is the oldest mother of any species ever found, a 380-million-year-old fish immortalised in a fossil while still attached to her offspring by an umbilical cord.

AP - Scattered showers and cool temperatures settled in over much of the West early Wednesday, while a line of storms stretched from the mid-Atlantic across the Southern Plains.

AP - NASA rushed Wednesday to get a special pump on board shuttle Discovery to fix a balky toilet at the international space station.

AP - A day after an orbiter's radio shutdown blocked NASA from telling its newly planted Phoenix Mars lander what to do, orders were on the way to get its robotic arm moving.