BBC News

The UK Government has decided not to appeal against the High Court's rejection of a bid to delay publication of its draft plan to tackle illegal levels of air pollution.

Nasa says its Saturn probe encountered very few particles in its dive inside the rings last week.

A fossil kept in storage in a museum for decades turns out to that of a new species, say researchers.

A group in Ontario are using animals like capybaras and kinkajous to reduce stress.

Botanists unlock the genetic workings of the tea plant, in a move that could improve flavour.

Overseas territories' ministers say Brexit is distracting the government from environmental issues.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 has launched a classified military satellite - known only as NROL-76 - into orbit.

Changing rules on best before dates and the sale of "wonky vegetables" could help cut waste, MPs say.

The US president said he hoped the new order would create "thousands and thousands" of jobs.

The DNA of extinct humans can be retrieved from sediment in caves - even in the absences of skeletal remains.

The UK Government has lost a court bid to delay publication of its air pollution strategy.

The Cassini spacecraft is back in contact with Earth after diving in between Saturn's rings and cloudtops.

Scottish Fold cats have increased in popularity through social media.

A study that claims humans reached the Americas 130,000 years ago, much earlier than previously suggested, has run into controversy.

Government rapped again for failure to tighten flood-prevention rules on new homes

New recordings show newborn humpback whales and mothers "whisper" to each other, to avoid predators.

The deepest and oldest waters on Earth are not immune from contamination, warn scientists.

Scientists have calculated the optimal strategy for throwing something accurately, even a ball of paper.

Homo naledi could be from just 200,000 years ago, not three million, a study suggests.

Scientists were able to keep premature lambs alive for a month using an artificial "plastic bag" womb.

The largest family tree of dog ever assembled shows how dogs evolved into more than 150 modern breeds.

Scientists publish a new atlas of the poles, detailing the sometimes strange shapes on the ocean floor.

Sudan is a the northern white rhino, and the last chance for the survival of his species.

Fossils found in rock from beneath the sea may be the oldest known fungi by one to two billion years.

A start-up company is persuading local councils in the UK to turn local plastic waste into roads.

Academic staff from EU countries should be urgently guaranteed a right to stay, say MPs.

Many people are unsure about what machine learning is, but the chances are they are using it every day.

A caterpillar that munches on plastic bags could hold the key to tackling plastic waste, say scientists.

'Better you than me,' jokes US president as astronaut Peggy Whitson reveals drinking recycled urine.

The UK government may face legal action after seeking to delay publishing its plan to tackle air pollution until after the general election.

A new theory may explain the background to one of the most famous works of art ever produced.

An ex-child soldier who has spent years risking his life to fight illegal mining and wildlife poaching in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been given a prestigious award that honours 'environmental defenders' around the world.

Roadsides are often littered with rubbish and weeds but they are havens for rare flowers.

Steve is a "remarkably common" gas ribbon in the upper atmosphere.

Kuki Gallmann, author of I Dreamed of Africa, is flown to hospital after an ambush.

Thousands of scientists demonstrate in cities around the world against an "assault on facts".

Labour says it would introduce legislation to tackle the "public health emergency" if in power.

Hedgehogs, nursed back to health in an animal sanctuary, are released in the village of Burton Fleming, East Yorkshire.

The Cassini satellite puts itself on a trajectory that will take it to destruction in September.

The Amur leopards are to be kept off-show in the hope they raise cubs that can be released into the wild.

The engineer who proposed circular runways answers critics in defence of his radical design for airports.

Killer whale Takara was already pregnant when the end of the breeding programme was announced.

What's made this river in Canada disappear? Geoscientist Daniel Shugar explains.

Russia scales back staff on the ISS until a long-delayed space lab is sent to the outpost in 2018.

Raised coastline could end the threat of sea erosion for the time being.

Boris Behncke lives near Mount Etna and monitors the volcano.

The footprint made by a reptile that lived almost 250 million years ago has been found in the Pyrenees.

Scientists call for "amphibian arks" to protect wild salamanders in Europe from a deadly infection.

European satellites will routinely map every land volcano on Earth, looking for early eruption signs.

A large asteroid the size of the Rock of Gibraltar has passed safely by Earth.