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Scientists categorise the Earth's rarest minerals with some so rare that the total global supply could fit in a thimble.

More than 5.5 million people worldwide are dying prematurely every year as a result of air pollution, according to new research.

US scientists have modelled how a 1930s-like "dustbowl" drought might impact American agriculture today, and found it to be just as damaging.

A new app that turns a smartphone into a mobile seismometer is being rolled out by California scientists.

Seven things to know about the man who predicted gravitational waves

Farmers are being warned to expect an outbreak of a highly infectious animal disease called bluetongue this summer.

Four members of a Paramusical Ensemble, who are unable to talk or move, are using ground-breaking technology to create music with the power of their minds.

Scientists find a wide range of ailments are strongly influenced by our Neanderthal heritage.

Reflecting on the significance of Thursday’s announcement – and the mind-boggling scale of the black hole merger itself.

Almost two million captive-bred fish and larvae were released in 2015 to boost populations in England's rivers, says the Environment Agency.

Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

Spear-fishing expert Colin Chester explains the appeal of fishing off Ascension Island.

Scientists say the discovery of gravitational waves will open the window on the formation of the universe.

The first direct detection of gravitational waves is without doubt one of the most remarkable breakthroughs of our time, and opens the door to a completely new way to investigate the Universe.

The search for gravitational waves was a global effort

For the first time, scientists detect tiny, rhythmic distortions in space and time - gravitational waves - predicted by Einstein 100 years ago.

Scientists in the US give an update on the search for gravitational waves - a theory put forward by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago.

Anticipation builds ahead of an announcement from an international effort to detect ripples in space-time, called gravitational waves.

A pod of whales stranded in Fife in 2012 are found to have had high concentrations of toxic chemicals in their bodies, scientists find.

Did a meteorite kill a man in India?

President Obama's plans to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide from US power plants are stalled by the Supreme Court.

Google's self-driving technology should be considered a legal driver, the US highways authority says.

Horses discriminate between happy and angry human facial expressions, according to research.

Flights from the UK to the US could take longer due to the changes in the climate, according to a new study.

Indian scientists have been asked to examine claims that a man died after being hit by a meteorite in southern Vellore city.

Biologists discover how bacteria sense light and move towards it: the entire single-cell organism focuses light like a tiny eyeball.

Caves reveal a desert's rainforest past

Carbon dating row over 'oldest Koran'

One of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat say environmentalists as Spain and Catalonia argue about the future of the Ebro river.

US astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the Moon and had an "epiphany" in space, dies at the age of 85.

A hungry sea lion pup is rescued after finding its way into a restaurant in the US city of San Diego.

Scientists say replacing broadleaved species with conifers over the past two centuries has increased global temperatures.

A Swedish study suggests that changes in the gut flora of brown bears help them to cope with the weird metabolic demands of hibernation.

The global honeybee trade is driving a pandemic that threatens hives and wild bees, according to a study.

What is the most beautiful garden photo of the year?

Secondary rainforests - if allowed to flourish in the right conditions - can absorb 11 times as much carbon as old-growth rainforests, a study shows.

Among 14 newly described species of tarantula is Aphonopelma johnnycashi, which lives near Folsom Prison in California.

Health officials in Colombia are warning that as many as 600 babies could be born with microcephaly this year.

A global deal to limit emissions of carbon dioxide could make millions of forest dwellers homeless, according to a new analysis.

A decades-long mystery of a deep-sea creature that resembles a discarded purple sock has been solved, scientists say.

Two Russian cosmonauts have begun a spacewalk to install experiments on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS).

Scotland's venture into space, launched from the Outer Hebrides, that almost went unnoticed.

The Luxembourg government has signalled its intention to get behind the 'next industrial revolution' - the mining of asteroids in space.

The attempt to break the world land speed record with the Bloodhound 1,000mph car has been put back again, to 2017, because the funding is not yet in place.

Astronomers capture images of two vast, bright jets of material, fired into space in opposite directions by a distant black hole.

The UK Ministry of Defence is going to acquire some high-altitude "eternal" solar planes.

Greenhouse gas output in the UK fell almost 8% in 2014, although emissions from transport and agriculture rose slightly, official figures show.

Scientists edge closer to better monitoring of volcanoes, with research suggesting volcanoes are primed to erupt on a time scale of days to months rather than years.

More on black holes, from Stephen Hawking's second Reith Lecture

A volcanic eruption on a remote island in Australian territory outside the Antarctic circle is filmed by scientists on a research expedition.