Research on the contents of milk and how breast-feeding benefits a growing child is surprising scientists.

With high Andean peaks and a humid tropical forest, Bolivia is a country of ecological extremes. But the unusually low winter temperatures experienced by the country's tropical region in July and August hit freshwater species hard, killing an estimated 6 million fish and thousands of alligators, turtles and river dolphins.

A panel of scientists could help resolve a festering environmental dispute between Argentina and Uruguay. The controversy, over a paper-mill complex on the Uruguayan side of a shared river, has sparked years of protests.

Biologists in Madagascar have come up with a highly detailed conservation plan using a new tool for identifying biodiversity hotspots, which analyses an unprecedented range of species over small geographical areas.