BBC News

Does the future lie in smaller reactors?

The BBC's Roger Harrabin explains how small nuclear reactors might work - using bags of rice.

The US space agency's Dawn satellite continues to return remarkable images from the dwarf planet Ceres, in particular from its collection of bright spots in Occator Crater.

Foam made by miniature frogs to protect their eggs could offer a clever way to deliver healing drugs to burns patients, scientists believe.

The ash tree is likely to be wiped out in Europe, according to the largest-ever survey of the species.

Scientists have been watching paint dry in experiments they say could improve the performance of everyday items, from sun screen to mobile phones.

With 23,000 panels covering an area the size of eight football pitches, Europe's biggest floating solar farm has begun generating power for the very first time.

Metallic ink was used to write the Herculaneum scrolls, say scientists.

Humans are now putting carbon into the atmosphere at a rate unprecedented since at least the age of the dinosaurs, scientists say.

More needs to be done to ensure the genetic diversity of wild relatives of key food crops are conserved to ensure future food security, a study warns.

Five cheetah cubs are in critical care after being born in rare caesarean section procedure

A bear bone found in a cave may push back dates for the earliest human settlement of Ireland by 2,500 years.

Lord West, former First Sea Lord, says he hopes experts will not choose to call a new polar research ship Boaty McBoatface, after the name tops a public poll.

The Australian and Tasmanian authorities abandon their campaign to allow logging in the Tasmanian Wilderness, a World Heritage site.

In an Oregon laboratory, a two-metre spider web made of aluminium and rope is beginning to unlock how orb weavers pinpoint struggling prey.

A camera has captured the hatching of bald eagles in Washington DC.

High-tech GPS equipment means it is not just the height of Ben Nevis that is being reassessed.

A very hungry caterpillar that devours box plants - a staple of formal English gardens - is named "top pest" of 2015 by the UK's Royal Horticultural Society.

How one of Africa's biggest solar farms could help South Africa solve its energy crisis.

Most of us share 2-4% of DNA with Neanderthals; some have genes from Denisovans; but their genetic mark has vanished in some stretches of genetic code.

Ben Nevis, Britain's tallest mountain, is re-measured by Ordnance Survey and is now officially put at 1,345m high - a metre taller than before.

US theme park operator SeaWorld says it is ending its controversial orca breeding programme, after facing criticism over alleged poor treatment of its captive orcas.

Astronomers use the Hubble Space Telescope to investigate a clutch of monster stars on the edge of our Milky Way Galaxy.

A meteor has been sighted above Britain in the early hours with witnesses describing seeing a green flash.

A dog owner says her pet is "lucky to be alive" after contracting a deadly tick-borne disease that is expected to spread around the UK.

A search for pharaonic Queen Nefertiti's resting place finds possible "organic material" inside spaces behind walls in Tutankhamun's tomb, Egypt says.

Physicists say a supercomputer simulation of blood flow around the entire human body is showing promise, based on an experimental test.

The public are being asked to name the UK's new polar research ship, which will begin operations in 2019.

What would it take to put an astronaut on Mars?

Scientists say a strange worm-like fossil with mysterious origins is actually the ancestor of living fish.

The Chancellor was accused by greens of promising a Budget for the next generation whilst doing too little to combat climate change.

Who was subject of latest Google Doodle?

A new selection of stretchy but switchable 'metamaterials' is created based on intricate, repeating motifs found in Islamic art.

The world's most unlikely pigeon smuggling route

Dog owners are being warned about an outbreak of a lethal tick-borne disease.

The oldest genome sequence from a human has identified some early representatives of the Neanderthal lineage.

Scientists unveil the first full description of how and why a ribbon curls when we scrape one side of it with scissors.

In the final challenge between man and machine, Google's AI emerges victorious.

A joint European and Russian satellite is successfully launched on a path to Mars where it will study the atmosphere for life signatures.

Meet the newly discovered dinosaur that could hold the evolutionary key to how T. rex became such a giant.

A newly discovered species of tyrannosaur reveals clue to T-Rex's great size, according to scientists.

Europe and Russia have launched a joint mission to the Red Planet.

Live coverage as Europe and Russia launch a joint mission to the Red Planet.

BBC News has a look at the European Space Agency rover that will explore the red planet and look for signs of life

Go master Lee Se-dol wins a game against Google's AlphaGo program, after losing three in a row in a best-of-five competition

Energy firm EDF says it remains "confident" the £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear power plant will go ahead despite uncertainties over its funding.

A new forensic and biometrics service is planned by the Home Office, four years after it controversially shut its predecessor.

All looks good for an on-time launch on Monday of the joint European and Russian ExoMars mission, which will try to track down the Red Planet's sources of methane.

The Balearic shearwater will be extinct within 60 years, according to a new analysis.