BBC News

Searching for alien life with a telescope down under

The number of single-use plastic bags handed out by UK supermarkets increases for the fifth year, rising to 8.5 billion.

Scientists find the first ever four-legged snake, which lived at the time of the dinosaurs and probably dug burrows.

The energy and climate change secretary faced accusations of "grotesque hypocrisy" as she outlined the government's plan to tackle climate change.

Trying to predict the South Asian monsoon by studying the ocean

The government has temporarily lifted a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides in certain parts of the country.

A 4,000 year-old Bronze Age skeleton, believed to be that of a child, is unearthed by archaeologists at a dig in Wiltshire.

A haul of planets from Nasa's Kepler telescope includes a world sharing many characteristics with Earth.

The butterfly that feeds on rotting flesh

Engineers have successfully tested a mobile bridge based on origami that could be deployed in disaster zones.

Astronauts from Russia, the US and Japan have successfully docked at the International Space Station.

Three wildcat kittens bred at a wildlife park in Scotland emerge from their den for the first time since birth.

Families need an annual household income of at least £45,000 to be able to enjoy the natural beauty of their environment.

Astronauts from Russia, the US and Japan successfully dock at the International Space Station, on a flight postponed since April.

Scientists work out how boa constrictors kill their prey, busting the myth that the snakes suffocate their victims.

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying three crew members to the International Space Station blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Scientists come up with an improved method for building tiny 3D structures out of strands of DNA.

New research suggests that the impact of fracking and shale gas in reducing US carbon emissions has been overstated.

MPs accuse the government of denying them a say over planned cuts to solar subsidies, with an announcement coming a day after the summer recess began.

Two separate genetic analyses have found evidence for a surprising genetic link between the native populations of the Americas and Oceania.

The latest images from Nasa's New Horizons probe reveal another mountain range on Pluto.

Subsidies for many new solar farms are to end under plans being published by the government.

More than 20 people with Clostridium difficile have been saved in the West Midlands by being fed liquid faeces.

Much-loved birds including curlews and cuckoos are under a growing threat from climate change in England.

A new study unpicks how the skin of the Texas horned lizard funnels water towards its mouth, and unveils a plastic replica that uses the same principles.

A university is in "exploratory discussions" on plans to build the world's deepest swimming pool for spaceflight and human endurance research.

A "near miss" between a passenger jet and a drone has prompted a warning about using the hobby aircraft safely.

A new, full snapshot of our planet has been captured by a Nasa satellite.

The US National Air and Space Museum has turned to crowdfunding to conserve the spacesuit Neil Armstrong wore on the Moon.

Growing emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are threatening the effectiveness of radiocarbon dating say scientists.

Cathy Lewis, space suit curator at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, explains why a campaign is under way to raise $500,000 to help safeguard the spacesuit worn by Neil Armstrong.

Researchers say the Arctic is highly sensitive to changes in summer temperatures as ice rebound continued through 2014.

The beautiful creatures with a deadly streak

Australia's wombats are under threat from a painful and fatal skin disease known as mange.

The Philae comet lander has fallen silent, according to scientists working on the European Rosetta mission.

Fishermen in South-West England turn their boats into "massive data platforms" for a citizen science study to measure plankton levels off the UK coast.

Prof Stephen Hawking has launched a new effort to answer the question of whether there is life elsewhere in space.

Prof Stephen Hawking launches a new effort to answer the question of whether there is life elsewhere in space.

A British team has developed a system to help protect wild rhinos, which could be extinct within the next ten years, because they are hunted by poachers for their lucrative horns.

Why bother exploring the Solar System?

The American space agency's New Horizons probe returns further images of Pluto that include a view of the dwarf planet's strange icy plains.

New science minister takes a hard look at funding research

An Edinburgh company has won the UK's top engineering prize for its digital hydraulic power system.

Scottish councils may lose out on more than £44m of income over the next 20 years if changes are made to wind farm subsidies, according to a trade body.

New research suggests that mosquitoes track down something to bite using a sequence of three cues: smell, then sight, and finally heat.

Polar bears are unable to adapt their behaviour to cope with the food losses associated with warmer summers in the Arctic.

The US and Russia are among five countries to sign a deal to prevent commercial fishing in the melting Arctic sea ice near the North Pole.

A genetically modified moth could help curb a major pest of vegetable crops around the world, research suggests.

A kestrel that flew into a car's grille is released by garage mechanics.

Scientists discover a winged dinosaur - an ancestor of the velociraptor - that they say was on the cusp of becoming a bird.