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You might call Maarten van der Weijden the anti-Lance Armstrong. Last week, the Dutch Olympic long-distance swimming champion and cancer survivor told the British newspaper The Telegraph that he didn't want to be compared to the American cycling star.

The gooey, golden stuff that builds up inside your ears should stay there, according to national guidelines on earwax removal released today.

Lizards work out for the same reason a guy at the gym might: as a display of strength. And with lizards, as can be the case with men, the push-ups also mean "get out of my territory."

Changes that the Bush administration is proposing to make to Endangered Species Act regulations just aren't sound science, various scientists and conservation groups say. They're concerned that the loss of scientific oversight resulting from the changes will leave some species vulnerable to federal projects that could damage habitats. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), signed into law by President Nixon on Dec. 28, 1973, does more than just provide for the creation of the Endangered Species List. ...

A new census in Cambodia reveals remarkably large populations of two monkey species that are threatened with extinction.

Giant clams two feet long might have helped feed prehistoric humans as they first migrated out of Africa, new research reveals.

Sponges are very primitive animals. They don't have nerves cells (nor muscles nor eyes nor a lot of other things we commonly associate with animals). So scientists figured sponges split from the tree of life before nerves evolved.

Tolkien's hobbits would feel right at home in new dwellings made out of living tree roots and designed to protect inhabitants from earthquakes. The homegrown architecture is just one of many eco-structures a new company hopes to roll out worldwide.

This will come as no surprise to anyone who has donated to public radio or television: Pledge drives do best when laden with guilt-trips, a new study finds.

A turtle that toddled alongside the dinosaurs died just days before laying a clutch of eggs. Now, about 75 million years later, paleontologists are announcing their find of the fossilized mother-to-be and the eggs tucked inside her body.

Scientists have cautioned that a warming planet could melt Greenland's vast ice sheet, a potentially catastrophic event that would raise sea levels and inundate coastal communities around the globe.

As global warming thaws the frozen soils of the Arctic, more stored-up carbon could potentially be released into the atmosphere than previously thought, a new study suggests. Much of the frigid Arctic's soil is permafrost, or permanently frozen ground. Seasonal freeze-thaw cycles can mix up the soil layers, a process called cryoturbation, forcing organic (carbon-based) material into the subsurface layers and storing it in the permafrost. With Arctic temperatures projected to rise up to 10. ...

A baby's first words are often "mama" and "dada," much to the delight of parents. Now scientists think they know why.

Consumers are just as good as professional economists at predicting the rate of inflation, a new survey finds.

Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies - the power of the future.

How does the orange clownfish - aka Nemo from the movie "Finding Nemo" - really find its way home?

As we age, our eyes inevitably take on a baggy look. Now scientists think they know why.

The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it will allow food producers to irradiate spinach and iceberg lettuce to extend shelf life and limit the growth of food-borne pathogens, such as Salmonella and E. coli.

Some zoos in the U.S. offer an exotic way to fertilize their gardens through a unique method of recycling waste from zoo animals.

Animals know how to speak up, pipe down, cut to the chase or spin a long yarn in order to stand out amidst the din when it comes to communicating with peers, a new set of studies suggests.

Recently, the two men who want to be next president of the United States appeared in a televised two-hour forum on faith, hosted by megachurch minister Rick Warren.

Natural selection wants us to be crazy - at least a little bit. While true debilitating insanity is not nature's intention, many mental health issues may be byproducts of the over-functional human brain, some researchers claim.

A study of Google Earth satellite images has revealed that herds of cattle tend to face in the north-south direction of Earth's magnetic lines.

Bats are known, in part, for making an infernal racket that helps them navigate, but it turns out they may actually flap around in relative silence when traveling in groups.

In a finding that will be bittersweet for Hillary Clinton supporters, a new Pew survey finds that when it comes to honesty, intelligence and a handful of other key traits valued in leaders, the public rates women as superior to men.

For a long time, biologists thought a main function of geckos' tails was to store fat, but a new study gives that couch-potato image a makeover.

When politicians "flip-flop," or alter their stance on issues, charges of hypocrisy often follow.  But changing one's mind is part of being human and is not always a hallmark of dishonesty, social scientists say.

If you think buying junk food in small packages will help you eat less, look out -marketers know the truth.