BBC News

More than half a million people are expected to take part in an annual birdwatch this weekend and record species spotted in gardens and parks.

Europe begins the roll out of a space data superhighway, which will allow faster delivery of satellite images of unfolding natural disasters.

British astronaut Tim Peake asks schoolchildren to help him with one of his scientific experiments.

Increasing crop yields could help meet the rising global demand for more food while sparing land to protect biodiversity, a study suggests.

A female sand tiger shark has slowly eaten a smaller male shark in a Seoul aquarium, bite by bite

Sophisticated geometry - the branch of mathematics that deals with shapes - was being used at least 1,400 years earlier than previously thought, a study suggests.

The past 30 years in Europe have been the warmest in more than two millennia, according to new research.

Octopuses that stand tall, darken and spread their web in a "Nosferatu pose" are likely displaying complex social interactions, according to new research.

The design for Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket has been settled and development will now move on apace to an anticipated first launch in 2020, say officials.

The World Health Organisation has convened an emergency committee to discuss the spread of the Zika virus, which has been linked to thousands of birth defects in Latin America.

Polecats, which were almost wiped out in Britain 100 years ago, are now spreading across Britain, a survey shows.

Polecats, which were almost wiped out in Britain in the last century, have made a remarkable recovery. Naturalist Chris Packham explains.

A study shows for the first time that bed bugs in the US have developed resistance to neonicotinoids, the world's most widely used insecticides.

Health officials battling the Zika virus in Brazil say as many as 100,000 people could have been infected in one city alone.

Russia's troubled space port nears launch

Work is nearing completion on building Russia's new Vostochny space port, designed to replace the Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan.

Are fitbands the future of genetic research?

Commercial satellite giant Intelsat launches the first of its new Epic spacecraft - a next-generation high-throughput telecommunications system - that will be critical to the future fortune of the company.

An artificial intelligence program developed by Google beats Europe's top player at the ancient Chinese game of Go, about a decade earlier than expected.

The planned introduction of 30 Marine Protected Areas off Scotland has sparked a "passionate debate", says the environment secretary.

The Devils Hole pupfish, one of the rarest species in world, may not have existed as a distinct population for as long as once thought.

Astronomers discover the largest known solar system, consisting of a large planet that takes a million years to orbit its star.

Facebook says its is "getting close" to having artificial intelligence software capable of beating the top players of the board game Go.

Remote communities are not receiving the compensation they are entitled to from schemes designed to conserve tropical forests, a study suggests.

The woman who could have been on ill-fated shuttle flight

It's difficult to keep a conspiracy under wraps, scientists say, because sooner or later, one of the conspirators will blow its cover.

One of the founding fathers of artificial intelligence has died, aged 88.

A transcript of Stephen Hawking's first Reith Lecture, annotated by BBC science editor David Shukman

James Webb, the space telescope that will take over from Hubble, is reaching some key milestones in its preparation for launch in 2018.

Explorer Henry Worsley dies during a solo attempt to cross Antarctica and complete the unfinished journey of his hero Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Five sperm whales have washed up on beaches in Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

The secretary bird kicks snakes to death with a strike that packs five times the bird's own weight in a fraction of a second, scientists say.

UK researchers measure the power in the strike of the secretary bird, which hunts by kicking.

The Zika virus is likely to spread across nearly all of the Americas, the World Health Organization has warned.

How Israel is embracing veganism

Why do sperm whales die in the North Sea?

Big Boy, a funnel-web spider with a leg span of 10cm, is the largest specimen ever handed in to Australia's only venom-milking programme.

Swimming with toxic fish and 'sexy shrimp'

Victoria Gill joins a team of scientists as they set up remote cameras to observe penguin colonies in the Antarctic.

A team of researchers led by Dr Tom Hart at Oxford University has set up a network of penguin-monitoring cameras throughout the Antarctic Peninsula.

The widow of North Face co-founder Douglas Tompkins opens talks with Chile on donating a vast nature reserve to be turned into national parks.

US entrepreneur Jeff Bezos reflies the New Shepard rocket and capsule system he launched and recovered last November.

A BBC News crew is in Antarctica following a team of British researchers who are monitoring penguins.

Storks feeding on rubbish dumps instead of migrating are more likely to survive the winter, research shows.

As red kites prepare to mate and breed, volunteers in County Down are out identifying potential nest sites so they can check for chicks later in the season.

Scientists say the Venus flytrap controls its digestion process by gauging the number of times a struggling insect touches its trigger hairs.

A Jurassic sea beast found in a Cambridgeshire quarry could prove to be a new species of plesiosaur, scientists say.

Scientists say satellite tagging basking sharks off Scotland has given valuable insights into their behaviour of the world's second biggest fish.

Images from a microscope of healthy and infected algae inspires the designs of a Scottish-based textiles producer.