Breakdowns of the year.

What went wrong in the world of science.

EPA braces for change under Trump.

Industry looks forward to looser rules, and agency scientists may face pressure.

California Academy of Sciences reeling from new budget cuts.

Science division gets hit hard to close major funding gap.

Two teams supercharge gene spread in plants.

First synthetic "gene drive" for plants could help tame weeds-or transform them.

The perfect pesticide?

Insecticides made of RNA could offer a safer and more targeted weapon against crop pests.

Wheat scientists unveil historic 'gold mine'.

Genome sequencing of century-old collection could help breeders restore long-lost traits.

In Antarctica, scientists track a dangerous bird flu.

Despite apparently minimal seabird deaths, grave concern for the next breeding season.

Does fluoride in drinking water risk IQ loss?

A U.S. federal court is examining a controversial link between fluoride and neurotoxicity.

Lawsuits force changes in U.S. pesticide regs.

EPA is drawing up new rules for farmers, but some worry the science isn't ready.

High hopes for short corn.

Plants bred or engineered to be short can stand up better to windstorms. They could also boost yields and benefit the environment.

Plan to move Kew herbarium roils plant world.

Botanists say transferring specimens to distant site is unnecessary and will hamper research.

Deadly avian flu hits Galápagos.

Concerns rise for boobies, finches, and other endemic species.

Prospect of unregulated deep-sea mining looms.

Seabed authority fails to finish rules in time, opening the door to the first mining license.

After Ukrainian dam breach, war hampers study of ecological toll.

Mines and active combat make fieldwork too risky.

Unmixed blessing.

Researchers are closing in on the long-sought goal of creating high-yielding hybrid crops that can be propagated indefinitely, without sex.

Nations agree on long-sought high seas biodiversity treaty.

Pact sets framework for creating reserves and sharing profits.

China battles alien weed at unprecedented scale.

"Mammoth" plan to control a coastal invader would benefit migratory birds.

Antibody-based defense may protect plants from disease.

A "creative" strategy to keep crops healthy borrows key pathogen detectors from the animal immune system.

Oceans away.

Is raising salmon on land the next big thing in farming fish?

Perennial rice could be a 'game changer'.

Long-term study in China shows yields hold up and farmers save money and time.

This lagoon is effectively a person, new Spanish law says.

In a first for Europe, country borrows concept from Indigenous science to protect endangered body of water.