Nature.com

DNA analysis reveals lost relative from 40,000 years ago.

Models suggest that drastic action will be needed in the latter half of the century.

International group outlines steps needed to reach 'safe' levels of carbon dioxide.

Glaciers crowning Africa's tallest mountain could disappear within decades.

Epidemiologists race to pin numbers on the global H1N1 spread.

In this new book, economist Nicholas Stern makes a sweeping proposal for a global climate deal.

Strong roles for biologists as the president-elect chooses his science and technology team.

Heavy industry wins key concessions in last-minute negotiations.

Obama appointments likely to focus on renewable energy and implementing cap and trade.

Carbon dioxide emissions and their associated warming could linger for millennia, according to some climate scientists. Mason Inman looks at why the fallout from burning fossil fuels could last far longer than expected.

Jonathan Lash of the World Resources Institute talks about the rocky road to the Copenhagen climate-change summit.

Rising carbon dioxide levels will make oceans more hostile to life.

Deforestation plans will fail unless habitation rights are considered.

"Ice!" screams NASA's Phoenix lander.

Both emissions reduction and adaptation will need to be much stronger than currently planned if dangerous global impacts of climate change are to be avoided. June's UN talks in Bonn and July's G8 summit present opportunities for world leaders to face this challenge.

Its proponents say that underground coal gasification combined with carbon capture could allow the continued use of coal — without unacceptable emissions. Kurt Kleiner looks at whether the technology is likely to live up to expectations.

Health officials had underestimated the problem, observers say.

Last month's UN Climate Change Conference in Bali marked the end of a year that saw the world turn its attention to global warming, largely owing to the overwhelming body of evidence presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). By Olive Heffernan

Rat organs can be stripped of their cells and regrown to pump blood. By Heidi Ledford

Shrinking continent is losing ice faster today than a decade ago. By Eric Hand

Aerosols over Asia incriminated in Himalayan glacial melting.

Measures of rain, snow and runoff in Siberia show hefty changes. By Quirin Schiermeier

Amazon hit by worst drought for 40 years. By Michael Hopkin

Antarctic trawl uncovers threatened ecosystem.

Faulty fuel sensor puts launch on hold. By Mark Peplow

New survey shows earthquake danger is closer than thought. By Michael Hopkin

Research spending tripled as part of bid for EU membership. By Tamara Grüner

The range of possibilities for futuru climate evolution needs to be taken into account when planning climate change mitigation and adaption strategies.

For the archaeologists who unearthed and studied the Flores skeleton, the discovery is a potentially career-defining event. So how did they greet the find, and has it changed their ideas about human evolution?

When a new fossil is found it is often claimed that it will rewrite the anthropological textbooks. But in the case of an astonishing new discovery from Indonesia, this claim is fully justified. By Chris Stringer.