BBC News

The world needs to produce more food to feed a growing population, but is automation and sensor technology the answer?

Plans to expand Heathrow Airport are set to breach the government’s climate change laws, advisers warn.

Scientists are warning there’s now so much space debris in low-Earth orbit that action needs to be taken.

A controversial pesticide, linked to a decline in insect species, may soon be banned in Canada.

Maria was sold into slavery - experience her story in our 360 VR feature.

Historic codebreaking site Bletchley Park could be turned into a cyberdefence training college.

Archaeologists in Egypt unearth what they describe as a city that dates back more than 5,000 years.

The claws of coconut crabs have the strongest pinching force of any crustacean, according to research.

Log books from the early Antarctic expeditions indicate that the area of summer sea-ice around the continent has barely changed in size in a century.

The melting Antarctic glacier that now contributes more to sea-level rise than any other ice stream on the planet began its big decline in the 1940s.

The European Space Agency's preliminary report into the Schiaparelli crash on Mars confirms the probe became confused about its altitude.

Nasa astronaut Shane Kimbrough has been showing off the specialties he'll be preparing for the crew's Thanksgiving meal aboard the ISS this year.

A study of plants and animals suggests many will be unable to adapt quickly enough to survive predicted changes in rainfall and temperature.

Trump won 218 counties that voted for Obama in 2012. In Pennsylvania, supporters in one of these counties discuss their hopes for the next four years.

The "Freiburg Cup", which comes with a deposit of €1, is going down well with German students.

A nearly complete dodo skeleton is sold at auction for £280,000.

A London NHS hospital trust has teamed up with tech giant Google to share patient data in the hope of saving lives.

Charging for plastic bags has seen a 40% drop in the number found on beaches, say conservationists.

Some councils are considering a levy on workplace car parking - but face strong opposition from businesses.

A new weather satellite that maps cloud "waves" could help pilots avoid turbulence.

The genetic code that underpins the Ginkgo tree has been laid bare by a team of researchers led from China.

Prime Minister Theresa May announces an additional £2bn a year by 2020 for UK research and innovation.

UK scientists will be cock-a-hoop about Theresa May's promise of an extra $2bn in research funds, but the money will not allay their concerns about the approaching Brexit.

Theresa May backtracks on her pledge to require companies to put worker representatives on boards.

A disease posing a "very serious threat" to the EU's olive industry is recorded on the Spanish island of Mallorca for the first time.

Theresa May is being warned not to use scientists and academics as pawns in negotiations over Brexit.

The next head of the UN global climate talks calls on the US to save Pacific islands from global warming.

The Obama administration bans offshore drilling in the Arctic but Donald Trump could rip up the ban.

Representatives from 47 of the world's most disadvantaged nations have promised that they will generate all their future energy needs from renewables.

From tractor beams to warp drive, sci-fi has inspired serious real-life research.

The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs moved rock huge distances as it dug out a crater in what is now the Gulf of Mexico, scientists say.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson has lifted off into space for her third mission to the International Space Station.

Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, 56, breaks more records as she heads to the ISS for the third time.

Delegates from more than 190 countries meeting in Marrakech issue a united call for action on climate change.

A genetic technique makes plants produce more food from sunlight - a key step in feeding the growing global population, scientists say.

A genetic technique makes plants produce more food from sunlight - a key step in feeding the growing global population, scientists say.

With an initial service soon to go live, Europe is extends its Galileo satellite-navigation system by putting up another four spacecraft.

Scientific analysis of one of the world's oldest cobs of corn shows how maize became one of our most popular cereals.

Astronomers claim to have discovered the roundest object ever measured in nature.

Private rocket firm SpaceX applies for US government approval for a large network of internet satellites.

The UK government has signed a document ratifying the world's first comprehensive agreement on tackling climate change.

A lump of faeces stored in the back of a Danish museum is traced back to a 17th-Century bishop.

One of the UK's most endangered songbirds is no longer on the brink of extinction, the RSPB says.

A third structure is found within the famous Kukulkan pyramid in eastern Mexico, experts say.

Pluto may harbour a slushy water ocean beneath its most prominent surface feature, known as the "heart".

Sampling DNA from seawater may be one way to check up on ocean life, according to research.

New research indicates that for brain connections to be properly formed in babies' brains, they need to feel safe, secure and loved.

The US secretary of state John Kerry says that the overwhelming majority of US citizens support the US taking action on climate change.

Researchers find traces of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in birds' feathers.

Archaeologists have discovered 81 "rare" tree-trunk coffins at a previously unknown Anglo-Saxon cemetery, it is revealed.