BBC News

A two-week-old baby orangutan makes its public debut at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

Brexit poses a huge risk to the UK wildlife and habitats, a group of MPs says.

Rebecca Morelle looks ahead to some of the big events in science expected in 2017.

New Year fireworks contributed to high pollution levels in German cities, official figures suggest.

Illegally traded endangered species that escape to form secondary populations offer opportunities for their long-term survival, a study suggests.

The world's oldest known killer whale, estimated to be 105 years old, is missing and presumed dead, researchers say.

Potentially disruptive volcanic ash clouds cross Northern Europe more frequently than previously thought, according to a new study.

India opens two world-leading clean energy projects - the world's biggest solar farm and a chemicals plant using CO2 to make baking soda.

The adventurer Sir David Hempleman-Adams calls on politicians to "grasp the nettle" on climate change.

A leading US Republican fears for the future of her grandchildren with Donald Trump as president.

From a majestic natural spectacle to a high-octane technological thrill ride, here's our guide to the big science events of 2017.

The work of a number of the UK's leading scientists has been recognised in the New Year Honours.

Despite its alarming pollution levels, Delhi has seen an explosion in the number of private vehicles, while public transport is in decline, environmentalists warn.

China announces a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017.

Here's a selection of the most inspiring findings in archaeology revealed this year.

Migrating birds are arriving at their breeding grounds earlier as global temperatures rise, an Edinburgh University study finds.

A rare giraffe has been born at Chester Zoo.

Warm winters and bad summers have hit the insect population, but seen other wildlife flourish, says the National Trust

Urgent action is needed to stop the cheetah - the world's fastest land animal - becoming extinct, scientists say.

A selection of the best science and environment reads this year.

Astronomer Vera Rubin, whose pioneering work led to the theory of dark matter, dies at 88.

A new study estimates there are just 7,100 now left in the wild as they face growing conflict with humans.

UK scientists have decoded the genome of the ash in the fight against a devastating plant disease.

A selection of the best science and environment reads this year.

British-born astronaut Piers Sellers has died of pancreatic cancer, aged 61, Nasa says.

Could wave energy ever power the world?

A UK designer launches the "30-year Christmas sweatshirt" to question the ethics of the "fast fashion" industry.

Temperatures at the North Pole could be up to 20 degrees higher than average this Christmas Eve.

A British team is in the final stages of designing its car for next year's World Solar Challenge in the Australian desert.

Some dinosaurs shed their teeth as they grew up, according to fossil evidence.

For the first time scientists have been able to track the high-flying insects that migrate across the skies of Southern England every year.

Two baby orangutans have been rescued from the back of a taxi in Thailand.

Threatened by habitat loss and hunting, Madagascar's lemurs, a critically endangered species, are finding refuge in a private sanctuary.

From the first direct evidence for black holes, to a rocky planet circling a neighbouring star, 2016 was packed with amazing science stories.

Japan scraps a 22-year-old experimental nuclear reactor that has cost $9bn but barely ever worked.

A hand-reared baby gorilla which was born 10 months ago has moved in with a surrogate mother.

Barack Obama has permanently banned offshore drilling in the "vast majority" of northern US waters.

Direct recordings have revealed what happens in our brains as we make sense of speech in a noisy environment, scientists say.

Uncertainty over the nature of the UK's future relationship with the EU is having a "corrosive" effect on science.

Surgeons describe a new treatment for early stage prostate cancer as "truly transformative".

Scientists at Cern have found a new way to unlock the secrets of antimatter.

A deep sea octopod, dubbed Casper after the film ghost, may be at risk from mining, scientists say.

Scientists say Earth's outer core contains a kind of "jet stream" - a fast-flowing river of liquid iron that is surging westwards under Alaska and Siberia.

Prehistoric pottery shows plants and grains were cooked as early as 10,000 years ago.

British-Chinese cameraman Jacky Poon is one of a few professionals documenting endangered animals in China.

An app that turns a smartphone into an earthquake detector helps citizens monitor tremors.

The UK fishing industry will need continued access to EU markets post-Brexit, a Lords report warns.

Mexican authorities try to save the world's smallest porpoise by seizing illegal fishing nets.

A global map of areas without roads shows large tracts of wilderness remain unprotected.

Why scientists are weighing the rainforests with lasers.