WATER

Scientists observe how water makes its way to newly forming planets.

Homes and farmland drowned in increasingly severe floods are affecting some 500 million people a year and straining relief efforts, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday.

Asia's monsoon misery has spread to Nepal, leaving thousands of people homeless, while more rain is expected to bring further chaos to China's drowned southwest, where many have already lost homes, livelihoods and loved ones.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged more funds on Monday to tackle some of Britain's worst flooding for nearly 60 years as rising waters made thousands homeless and plunged entire towns under water.