PALO ALTO, California – Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever. Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence.

Little robin from Gabon is world's newest species

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A red-breasted bird discovered by accident in the forests of Gabon is a new species, U.S. scientists said on Friday. They have named the little bird the olive-backed forest robin, or Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, but say they know little about it yet.

Storm Fay to become hurricane threat to Cuba and U.S.

SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Fay threatened to strengthen into a hurricane as it moved toward Cuba after dousing Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday with torrential rains and killing at least one person. The sixth cyclone of what experts predict will be an unusually busy Atlantic hurricane season, Fay was expected to be near hurricane strength when it approaches Cuba on Sunday and at hurricane strength over the Florida Keys and off Florida's west coast after that, U.S forecasters said.

Mars lander sends back picture of Martian dust

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander has sent back the first-ever image of a speck of red Martian dust taken through an atomic force microscope, shown at a higher magnification than anything ever seen from another planet. The dust particle is about one micrometer – or one millionth of a meter – across and is representative of the dust that cloaks Mars, producing the planet's distinctive red soil and coloring its sky pink, NASA said.

New York City tornado warning canceled

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New Yorkers were temporarily urged to take shelter on Friday due to a tornado warning but it was quickly rescinded, officials said. New York City skies were covered with dark and swirling clouds, leading the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for the Bronx, just north of Manhattan. City officials told people to take cover in the low floors of their buildings.

Stone Age graveyard shows Sahara was once green

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Stone Age graveyard on the shores of an ancient, dried-up lake in the Sahara is brimming with the skeletons of people, fish and crocodiles who thrived when the African desert was briefly green, researchers reported on Thursday. The 10,000-year-old site in Niger, called Gobero after the Tuareg name for the area, was discovered in 2000 but the group has only now gathered enough information to make a full report, said University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno.

FDA to hold meeting on baby bottle chemical

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it will hold a public meeting next month about the safety of a chemical found in baby bottles and many other products. Environmental groups say the chemical, bisphenol A, can hurt children and animals. But the FDA and European regulators, as well as the plastics industry, say it is safe.

Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican archeologists have discovered a maze of stone temples in underground caves, some submerged in water and containing human bones, which ancient Mayans believed was a portal where dead souls entered the underworld. Clad in scuba gear and edging through narrow tunnels, researchers discovered the stone ruins of eleven sacred temples and what could be the remains of human sacrifices at the site in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Brooklyn museum to show off fake Egypt sculptures

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Brooklyn Museum, which recently announced its prized collection of stone sculptures from ancient Egypt was cluttered with fakes, is planning an exhibit with these pieces to raise awareness of forgeries in the world's art collections. “We really have to face the fact that mistakes are made in museums just as they are made anywhere else,” Edna Russmann, curator of the museum's Egyptian, classical, and ancient Middle Eastern art, said this week. ”Museums are in the habit of hiding these things away.”

Octopuses have six “arms” and two “legs”: study

BERLIN (Reuters) – Octopuses' eight tentacles divide up into six “arms” and two “legs,” a study published by a chain of commercial aquariums said on Thursday. Octopuses are reckoned to be the world's most intelligent invertebrates and are able to use tools with their sucker-covered tentacles.