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January 11, 2013 The biggest attraction at the annual Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa., is always a giant, 1,000-pound sculpture crafted from butter. Once this year's show wraps up, all that beautiful butter will go right into a manure pit to become methane gas.

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January 10, 2013 Xiao Liwu made his public debut Thursday at the San Diego Zoo. As fans crowded around the exhibit, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 5-month-old giant panda cub, we asked the question that perhaps needs no asking. Scientists offer some clues.

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January 10, 2013 Hoping people will think more about where their meat comes from, art graduate student Sarah Hallacher has visualized the U.S. beef industry with a series of steaks (actually, clay) sculpted into the shape of states and packaged in Styrofoam and shrink wrap.

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January 9, 2013 An experimental drug developed to fight Alzheimer's disease partially reversed hearing loss caused by exposure to extremely loud sounds, researchers say. The results apply only to mice, but scientists are encouraged by the fact that the medicine caused new hair cells to grow in the animals' inner ears.

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January 9, 2013 For two years, photographer Jamey Stillings has been documenting the construction of a solar plant that will, for better or worse, forever alter the Mojave landscape.

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January 9, 2013 One of the country's speediest, most daring and dangerously tall climbers seems to be walking across the sky until his foot touches the moon's edge. But he doesn't stay for long.

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January 9, 2013 Top schools often offer scholarships that not only include free tuition, but also free room and board for top students from poor families. Each year, however, colleges are confronted with a paradox: No matter how many incentives they provide, enrollment of highly talented, low-income student barely seems to budge.

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January 8, 2013 The contaminants researchers found at the bottom of Alberta lakes are from air pollutants coming from tar sands oil production and processing facilities. The pollution wasn't picked up by the industry-funded monitoring program that was supposed to track environmental risks from tar sands over recent decades.

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• Infographic: How Tar Sands Oil Is Produced

January 8, 2013 American men are at the top of their shirt-buying game in their early 50s. Then something drastic happens.

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January 7, 2013 A sushi chain owner paid about $3,600 per pound for a Pacific bluefin tuna on Saturday, during the first auction of the year at Toyko's Tsukiji fish market. Alas, the headline-grabbing species is in danger of being overfished, scientists say.

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