Seeking Africa’s green revolution. From the begging bowl to the bread basket: in just two years, Malawi has gone from famine to food surplus – a minor agricultural miracle. — BBC

CSIRO discovers biological treasure trove in Southern Ocean. Scientists are preparing to rewrite the textbooks after hundreds of massive deep sea mountains and new marine species were discovered in the Southern Ocean near Tasmania. — ABC News

25% of wild mammal species face extinction. At least a quarter of the world’s wild mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to a comprehensive new global survey. The new assessment — which took 1,700 experts in 130 countries five years to complete — paints “a bleak picture,” leaders of the project wrote in a paper being published in the journal Science. — Washington Post

Obama gets a thank you from NASA. It’s not every day that the head of a federal agency in a Republican administration during an election year writes a glowing thank-you note to the Democratic candidate for president. But NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, wrote a thank you letter to Senator Obama for his work in getting Congress to approve a critically important measure for the space program.

The problem for NASA was a bill, the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act, that bans spending federal money in Russia because of that nation’s dealings with hostile countries. But NASA relies heavily on Russia for transportation to and from the International Space Station aboard Soyuz spacecraft, which both serve as taxis to the station and as lifeboats in case the station has to be evacuated. And after 2010, when NASA shuts down the space shuttle program, the Soyuz will be the only vehicle taking people to the station. So NASA needs to be able to buy those seats. — New York Times