BBC News

Puffins and turtle doves are among four UK bird species now at risk of extinction, according to the latest revision of a global conservation database.

Senior Buddhists have called on world leaders to agree a new climate change agreement at a conference in Paris next month.

The Rosetta spacecraft discovers molecular oxygen in the cloud of gas surrounding Comet 67P prompting a rethink on the origins of the Solar System.

Authors of a study on lion populations believe many are in rapid decline and the animal should now be classified as endangered in parts of Africa.

How a couple in Taiwan has built a farm solely from recycled materials including wood, glass and newspapers.

How do you stop the horn trade?

The Cassini spacecraft has made a final ultra-close flyby of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, to "taste" the water it is spewing into space.

Engineers in Bristol develop a system that holds and moves small objects without touching them, using "holograms" built from sound waves.

Six pairs of giant panda twins, born in China's Sichuan province, make their public debut.

A case of anthrax in a cow is confirmed on a farm in Wiltshire, Public Health England confirms.

Mars, Jupiter and Venus will be seen together in the sky this week, in a rare grouping of the three planets.

The UK's most popular dog breed can suffer from weight gain in middle age just like people, a canine health survey by Edinburgh scientists finds.

About 1,000 Bikini islanders are hoping to relocate to the United States as rising seas threaten their adopted home.

The great British tradition of conker fighting is under threat because of an infection which is being spread through the country by a moth - which eats horse-chestnut trees.

Australia names Dr Alan Finkel as its next chief scientist, an engineer and vocal advocate of nuclear power who set out a vision of a future with "no oil, gas or coal".

Rock star Brian May's request for a judicial review into the legalities of badger culling is rejected.

Take a coffee plant and some volcanic soil, keep indoors for a while and despite the cold, you could have Northern Ireland-grown coffee.

A supermarket in London is shocking customers by selling live crabs wrapped in plastic. But do crabs actually feel pain?

The deadly quake in Afghanistan and Pakistan was large but mercifully deep, according to geoscientists studying the area.

More than 150 people are reported killed after a major earthquake hits north-east Afghanistan and Pakistan, with many more injured.

The Welsh island of Anglesey has wiped out grey squirrels

Tributes are paid to the historian and biographer Lisa Jardine following her death at the age of 71 from cancer.

Watch as an ash tree is felled and part of the wood is turned quickly into a spoon in this 60-second time lapse.

Arctic sea-ice volume during the first two weeks of October was about 6,200 cubic km, according to the Cryosat spacecraft - tracking down from the high in 2013.

Can you make a moral case for eating meat?

BBC News NI's Conor Macauley joins a group of volunteers from Copeland Bird Observatory to record seals on the County Down coastline.

Archive footage has been uncovered of a group of beavers being parachuted into wilderness in the US.

Progress towards a deal on climate change at talks in Bonn is proving to be frustratingly elusive, says Matt McGath.

Warmer temperatures are threatening to shrink the habitat of the snow leopard, the big cat already struggling against extinction, a report says.

An image of Kerberos, one of the two tiny moons of Pluto, arrives from Nasa's New Horizons probe.

The BBC's Roger Harrabin explains how the climate change talks in Bonn work and who is there.

An "extremely rare" half male, half female butterfly is found in Hertfordshire.

Monkeys face an "evolutionary trade off" between a deep, impressive voice and producing lots of sperm, researchers discover.

Plague has been a scourge on humanity for far longer than previously thought, samples of ancient DNA show.

The Indian women who answer cat calls

Negotiators meeting at UN climate talks in Germany say that questions over cash are the biggest barrier to a new global deal.

Sir Tim Smit signs a contract to build an Eden project on the east coast of China.

Monday will see an international team of scientists set sail for the mid-Atlantic on a quest to sample microorganisms living deep in the ocean floor.

US scientists perform a macabre set of experiments to bolster their controversial argument that fist fights shaped the human hand.

Scientists say a new species of giant tortoise has been discovered on the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador.

A new study adds crocodiles to the list of animals that apparently sleep with one brain hemisphere at a time.

Scientists say they have identified a new species of giant tortoise on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific.

A team from Delft University in the Netherlands has won a 3,000km (1,800 mile) solar car race in the Australian outback.

A leading expert tells the BBC that rapid rates of warming will see permafrost in parts of Alaska start to thaw by 2070.

Environment correspondent Matt McGrath explores a US Army tunnel through permafrost in Alaska.

The Cuban government, working with a US environmental group, announces a long-term plan to protect shark populations swimming in its waters.

The robot rover that Europe is building to send to Mars is likely to be targeted at an equatorial region known as Oxia Planum.

EDF Energy reaches an agreement with China's CGN for a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

Volunteers have mapped the UK coastline to identify the damage by industrial development.