BBC News

The business idea keeping salt mines afloat

A study suggests there could be a layer of iron-rich meteorites hidden just beneath the Antarctic ice.

Fergus Walsh introduces the marvel that is the human brain.

Neuroscience is getting closer to tackling mental illness

Meet the man making genetics democratic

For the first time, astronomers identify which gases are present in the atmosphere of a "super-Earth" planet orbiting an alien star.

The World Health Organization backs trials of genetically-modified mosquitoes that could be used in the fight against the Zika virus.

New technology that uses lasers to measure vehicle emissions are being introduced in the UK.

France's EDF will extend the life of four of its eight UK nuclear power plants by between five and seven years.

The use of the PCB chemical was prohibited from the 1980s but it still exists in the environment, as Rebecca Morelle reports.

Custom-made, living body parts have been 3D-printed in an important advance for regenerative medicine, say scientists.

Biologists describe a new species of extinct plant, based on two fossil flowers that were trapped in chunks of amber for at least 15 million years.

The discovery of claw marks in a bone-filled cave suggests an extinct Australian predator was able to climb and could have threatened humans, scientists say.

British mapping agency Ordnance Survey has released an easy-to-read map of terrain from the planet Mars.

Two physicists who placed a long-odds bet that gravitational waves would be detected by 2010 say the discovery is "worth much more" than the £2,500 they missed out on.

Scientists in Chicago produce a visualisation of van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, showing what it would have looked like before its colours faded.

How accurate is bite mark evidence?

Why the forgotten women of astronomy are being celebrated 100 years on

Weighing the evidence about ocean plastic

UK scientists say they have produced a new mix of cement that should be much more effective at containing nuclear waste in a deep repository.

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.