BBC News

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.

Cutting down trees in rainforest regions facilitates the spread of invasive black rats, a study suggests.

Indigenous tribes, timber firms and environmental groups in western Canada hail a deal to protect one of the world's largest temperate rainforests.

Insulating buildings should be a key infrastructure priority alongside roads, rail, flood defences and energy, ministers have been told.

Is human activity driving evolution in animals?

Scientists replicate how the human brain folds using a 3D model made out of gel, and computer simulations.

A new study says that man-made climate change increased the chances of a once in century wet January in southern England in 2014 by 43%.

A previously unknown population of at least 100 lions is discovered by a wildlife charity in a remote park in north-western Ethiopia.

A reptile believed to pre-date most species of dinosaur hatches at Chester Zoo after a 38-year wait by conservationists.

How the misunderstanding of risk destroyed a shuttle

A bid is launched to uncover the secret life of clingy sea creatures.

The challenge of setting a mini land speed record

Proton beam cancer therapy - at the centre of an NHS controversy in 2014 - causes fewer side effects in children than conventional radiotherapy, research suggests.

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.