BBC News

The UK's official advisers have issued a sombre assessment of government plans to hold climate change at a safe level.

Scientists have reconstructed the "voicebox" of an extinct bird that lived at the time of the dinosaurs - and they say it honked or quacked like a duck.

In a very unusual case of genetic theft, a virus has been caught with a gene that codes for the poison of black widow spiders.

Scientists begin examining rocks drilled from the crater dug out of Earth's crust by the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs.

President Barack Obama says the US will work with private companies on its plan to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

A bottlenose dolphin is pictured flipping a porpoise into the air in a deadly attack.

Hundreds of thousands of householders in flood risk areas have failed to install basic protection against rising waters, insurers say.

Russian social media site launches platform for pets.

The European Schiaparelli probe will make its landing attempt on Mars prepared even to handle dust storms if that is what the planet throws up, the mission team says.

A huge drop in the number of butterflies in the UK is causing confusion among wildlife experts.

New, independent research seen by the BBC suggests Heathrow airport could build a new runway without breaking European pollution laws.

More than 100 scientists from 28 countries have called for global action to protect seagrass meadows, which provide food and shelter for fish, marine mammals and birds.

Aspinall Foundation's Port Lympne wildlife park in Kent has praised the arrival of two critically endangered black rhino calves in Tanzania.

Ten years ago an earthquake detected in North Korea turned out to be the country's first ever nuclear test. Seismologist Mika McKinnon explains how scientists tell the difference.

Conservative US blogger Matt Drudge suggests warnings over Hurricane Matthew are a government conspiracy, but critics say his comments are wrong and dangerous.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield discusses with Sarah Montague the importance of fear.

A humpback whale which was stranded on a sandbank off Australia frees itself after its calf was filmed apparently pushing her into deeper water.

A landmark deal has been struck by the aviation industry to limit greenhouse gases, but environmentalists are unimpressed.

Nobel laureates are getting older in every field but one. Could it all be down to quantum mechanics?

Levels of beneficial omega-3 oils in farmed salmon have fallen significantly in the past five years.

Fracking can go ahead in Lancashire, says the government, in a landmark ruling for the UK shale gas industry.

Young African scientists show off their inventions, including a prototype of flying car, at an expo in the South African city of Johannesburg.

Scientific detective work on fossils collected in Victorian times has identified two new species of ichthyosaurs - the giant sea reptiles that swam at the time of the dinosaurs.

Half a century of the planet's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes go online in a unique animated app.

Half a century of the planet's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes go online in a unique animated app.

Footage released by the US Geological Survey has been released of the lava lake on top of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano.

The common toad is in decline across much of the UK, and needs better protection, say conservationists.

Scientists are a step closer to solving the mystery of one of the great animal migrations - the journey of eels to the Sargasso Sea.

What are the potential uses for molecular machines, which have won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Our life spans appear to be limited to about 115 years, according to US scientists.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has furthered his ambition to launch people into space by practising a critical safety manoeuvre on his New Shepard vehicle.

The 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded for developing the world's smallest machines.

Peru's first national satellite, PerúSAT-1, returns its maiden image of the South American country.

Switching to a low-carbon economy offers cities "significant economic opportunities" if they can collaborate with the private sector, an assessment suggests.

The man behind attempts to develop synthetic rhino horn has told the BBC that he hopes to have a "bio-identical" product on the market in two years.

A new study aims to assess whether the seas around Britain have now got so noisy that fish species like cod and haddock have difficulty communicating with each other.

Astronomer Annie Maunder achieved many firsts in her lifetime, but her story has slipped from history.

Professor Duncane Haldane is one of three British-born scientists to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.

The European Parliament backs the ratification of the Paris climate deal, the world's first comprehensive climate agreement.

The British authorities in Cyprus are doubling the number of officers targeting illegal songbird trapping on British military territory on the island.

The UK authorities in Cyprus are doubling the number of officers targeting illegal songbird trapping on British military territory.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three British-born scientists for discoveries about strange forms of matter.

Known for its long whip-like tail, the threatened Thresher shark is among a number of marine species given extra protection at the Cites meeting.

Attempts to give the maximum level of international protection to all African elephants have foundered at a key species conference in Johannesburg.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine goes to Yoshinori Ohsumi for discoveries about the secrets of how cells can remain healthy by recycling waste.

An Asian bird species under threat for it's ivory-like "helmet" has gained extra protection at the Cites conference in Johannesburg.

A butterfly struck up an unlikely friendship with a koala joey at Symbio Wildlife Park in New South Wales, Australia, with adorable results.

Delegates at a UN wildlife conference in South Africa endorse calls for the closure of all domestic ivory markets.

Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory captures a magnificent display of coronal loops above an area with strong magnetic fields.

Seven species of yellow-faced bee native to Hawaii are the first bees to be added to the US list of endangered species.