BBC News

For the first time, a Virgin Galactic pilot speaks to the media about the day one of its ships crashed last October.

Eight months after Virgin Galactic's spaceplane crashed in the Californian desert killing one of the pilots, his British colleague has talked exclusively to the BBC about the accident.

Virgin Galactic have been building a new spaceplane in a hangar in the desert in the US.

Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing complains to his UK counterpart that Scotland is being frozen out of key decisions on green energy.

Australia's apple isle provides alternatives during drought

Speeding to finish the build of a 1,000mph car

A solar-powered plane that is attempting a record-breaking flight around the world has suffered damage after an unscheduled stop in Japan.

Construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope receives the go-ahead, leading to preliminary operations in 2021 or 2022.

The Large Hadron Collider has re-started scientific investigations after a two-year pause.

New research suggests chimps have most of the mental capabilities needed to cook food.

Dramatic footage has emerged of Ecuador's Wolf volcano spewing lava into the ocean.

Experts call for "Global Apollo Programme" to tackle climate change

Seven sawfish in a Florida estuary become the first virgin-born vertebrates ever found in the wild, in a sexually reproducing species.

Solar Impulse, the zero-fuel aeroplane, lands in Japan after being forced to abort a Pacific crossing due to deteriorating weather ahead of it.

Britain's oldest sauropod dinosaur is identified from a fossil bone discovered on the North Yorkshire coast, experts reveal.

A decade of information about the world's harshest seas has been gathered together from specially tagged wandering seals.

Around half the world's Saiga antelope have died suddenly in Kazakhstan since May 10th, possibly due to stomach bacteria turning on their hosts.

Poor weather forces solar-powered plane Solar Impulse to make unscheduled stop in Japan en route from China to Hawaii.

European researchers have been working on underwater robots that aim to mimic the behaviour of animals and fish.

The plane attempting to circumnavigate the world powered only by the sun, is being forced to make a landing in Japan because of bad weather.

The Solar Impulse, which is attempting the world's first Pacific Ocean crossing in a solar-powered plane, is in holding pattern as weather worsens.

The bumpy road to climate change talks

Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg begins his bid to cross the Pacific, from China to Hawaii, in the zero-fuel Solar Impulse aeroplane.

Solar Impulse, a plane powered entirely by the sun, takes off on the most difficult leg of its mission to fly a solar plane around the world from China to Hawaii.

A powerful undersea earthquake south of Japan shakes buildings in the capital Tokyo and is felt across the country.

Scientists are using drones to monitor gray whales of the coast of California.

Awaiting Unesco's decision on a wonder of the natural world

The Great Barrier Reef should not go on the World Heritage danger list, according to a United Nations draft report.

Virgin Galactic's long road to commercial service

The cast and creators of TV comedy The Big Bang Theory create a scholarship fund for low-income science students.

A man from Calgary reported to be a committed creationist finds five fish fossils dating back 60 million years whilst digging a basement.

A court in India's Rajasthan state rejects a plea to release a tiger who has been branded a killer and caged.

The US is expected to have tough words with China at a regional security meeting, over Beijing's building activities in the South China Sea, says Jonathan Marcus.

How do you pick up an oil platform?

Engineers produce a "shape memory alloy" that can pop back into shape more than 10 million times, shattering previous records for this type of material.

A new species of ancient human has been unearthed in the deserts of Ethiopia, after 3,500,000 years.

A series of images captures two vast blobs of plasma, shot out by a black hole, cannoning into each other in a nearly light-speed cosmic collision.

The BBC's John Maguire joins a scientific expedition that is studying the Common Dolphin population off the west coast of Scotland, and trying to find out why, until recently, it was quite a rare sight.

A human skull from a deep cave in northern Spain shows evidence of a lethal violent attack 430,000 years ago, a study shows.

A new species of ancient human has been unearthed in the Afar region of Ethiopia, scientists report.

Researchers develop a system that adapts to damage in less than a minute, paving the way for robots in the home.

A study of three mice that spent 91 days on the International Space Station finds abnormalities in their skin.

Tourism operators in earthquake-hit Nepal seek guidance from international experts on which areas can be declared safe for trekking and mountaineering.

Sending ice from the Alps to Antarctica

A study tests the idea that large crowds can be counted using data from mobile phone usage and Twitter.

A genetically engineered version of a virus that normally causes cold sores shows real promise for treating skin cancer, say researchers.

The Antarctic ozone hole would have been 40% bigger and a hole over the Arctic would have opened up if ozone-depleting chemicals had not been phased out, according to research.

A volcanic eruption on one of the Galapagos Islands potentially puts Charles Darwin's evolution ecosystem at risk.

Should animals be given human rights?