BBC News

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.

The scientist who was 'made' by a purple frog with a snout

Karen Allen meets a rhino breeder with a controversial solution to stop poachers killing his animals for their horns.

Details are emerging of plans to pay farmers who manage their land in a way that helps prevent flooding in towns and cities.

British-born astronaut Piers Sellers tells of living life at "20 times normal speed" after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Sir David Attenborough speaks to Huw Edwards about the discovery of a new species of titanosaur, which is the biggest animal ever to walk the earth.

US astronomers claim to have strong evidence that there is a ninth planet in our Solar System. We asked you to send us your suggested names for this new arrival.

Archaeologists say they have unearthed the earliest evidence of warfare between hunter-gatherers, at a site in northern Kenya.

Why do astronomers in the US think there they have discovered a ninth planet in the solar system?

The discovery of what may be the world's biggest dinosaur is told in a new BBC One documentary.

Three baby otters have been found outside a Florida home in Palm Shores.

A sperm whale stranded on a beach in Western Japan is dragged back out to sea by fishermen.

Scientists studying birds in the Himalayas discover that one species of thrush is in fact two.

Exposure to toxin from algae linked to dementia

Nevada desert home to ambitious transport project

Nasa's chief scientist says she is a bit "sceptical" about the existence of a ninth planet in our Solar System.

Global temperatures in 2015 were the warmest on record, according to data published by meteorologists in the UK and US.

A 201-million-year-old dinosaur that fell out of a cliff face in Wales in 2014 is formally named Dracoraptor hanigani - the "dragon thief".