BBC News

Vultures have developed the ability to tap into turbulent air as a way of gaining altitude according to a new study.

Researchers are encouraging people to buy 'underwater Christmas trees' to help fund the restoration of seaweed that suddenly disappeared in the 1980s.

Archaeologist Tom Dawson, explains how the public can help to log sites at risk of coastal erosion.

BBC News catches up with engineers at the University of Cambridge who have developed a prototype game, using remote-controlled airships.

US defence officials confirm a streaking fireball over the skies of Nevada and California was Russian space debris.

BBC Weather's Nick Miller looks at how the effects of El Nino are being felt around the world.

Ecologists observe wild New Caledonian crows making and using hook-shaped tools, thanks to tiny tail-mounted cameras.

New Caledonian crows have been caught in the act of making and using hook-shaped tools, thanks to tiny tail-mounted cameras.

A Russian cargo vehicle carrying food and supplies has docked with the International Space Station - just in time for Christmas.

Dogs can copy each other's expressions in a split-second just like humans, showing the ability to "read emotions", according to Italian researchers.

The US space agency, Nasa, suspends the March launch of its next mission to Mars because of fault in a key research instrument.

Conservationists are unveiling their 12 trees of Christmas, in a bid to highlight the plight facing some of the world's threatened conifers.

The private space technology company SpaceX successfully lands a rocket back on land after a mission into space.

US company SpaceX lands an unmanned rocket upright after putting satellites into orbit - the first time such a feat has been accomplished.

A new study says that wild bees in the US are declining in many areas because of increases in the amount of corn being grown for biofuel.

Going on a spacewalk - what could possibly go wrong?

Gullies seen on the surface of Mars could be formed by trapped CO2 gas causing sand to flow downhill, a new modelling study suggests.

UK astronaut Tim Peake helped two fellow crew members carry out a space walk outside the International Space Station on Monday.

Watch timelapse highlights as Tim Peake helps his crewmates carry out a space walk.

Photographers as far south as Suffolk capture the Northern Lights as the phenomenon makes a rare appearance in the skies above England.

Chilean scientists trace a record of fog behaviour in the Atacama Desert stretching back 3,500 years.

UK astronaut Tim Peake thanks the thousands of well-wishers who sent him a good luck message, as he spends his first weekend in space.

A study of storks in Britain is being carried out with a view to encouraging them to breed in the wild.

Is a war in space becoming more likely?

UK astronaut Tim Peake says his first three days in space have been better than he imagined.

UK astronaut Tim Peake is giving a news briefing from space, after becoming the first Briton to serve on the International Space Station.

What is 'Major Tim' doing in his first week in space and beyond?

More than 300 people were killed when devastating floods hit the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Scientists have reconstructed how an ancient reptile swam in the oceans at the time of the dinosaurs.

Scientists say they have solved the 200-year-old mystery of how a reptile that lived at the time of the dinosaurs navigated the oceans.

Could putting vibrations into the ground be a way to keep elephants from coming into conflict with humans?

Bolivia has released 100,000 turtle hatchlings into the Amazon to try and repopulate some endangered species.

The Galapagos Islands finches, which helped Charles Darwin refine his theory of evolution, are in danger of extinction, a study says.

New calculations show that our already sizeable water footprint is 18% bigger than previously recognised - at 10,700 cu km a year.

Nearly 1,500 badgers were killed this year as part of the government's cull, figures reveal.

A new global temperature forecast from the UK's Met Office says that 2016 is likely to be even warmer than the record breaking 2015.

The UK government says subsidies for small scale solar electricity panels on homes are to be cut, although by less than expected.

Europe's Cryosat mission is now monitoring the changing height of Greenland and its ice losses in unprecedented detail.

An international team says the number of landslides in April's devastating Nepal-Ghorka earthquake was far lower than people had feared.

Fracking adversaries gear up for the next round

Researchers use quantum dots to create what has been classed as the world's smallest inkjet-printed picture.

The European Court of Justice rules the European Commission breached EU law over the potentially harmful "endocrine disruptor" chemicals.

Polar bears are working harder just to stay in one place, as the Arctic sea-ice on which they hunt drifts away.

Claire Marshall explains how fracking could be done in national parks.

Increases have been agreed for the UK fishing industry in quotas for fish including North Sea cod at annual EU negotiations.

Aeroplanes may be making a high-altitude icy haze that is brightening US skies, according to a group of scientists.

What Tim Peake means for British space ambitions

Thermal footage reveals how hummingbirds lose heat as they beat their wings up to 70 times per second.

UK pupils are being offered the chance to speak to astronaut Tim Peake by video-link next year, during his six-month mission around the Earth.