BBC News

Using thermal cameras and X-rays, engineers get a detailed view of overheated lithium-ion batteries failing and exploding.

Firefighters battle blaze in woods near Ukraine's disused Chernobyl nuclear plant, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history.

The Nepal earthquake and its aftershocks have probably triggered many landslides, scientists warn.

About 1% of all the tree species in the Amazon rainforest account for half of the carbon locked in the region, a study estimates.

The Vatican Science Academy urges politicians to end their "infatuation" with a form of economic growth that is ruining the Earth.

Victoria the polar bear is settling into her new home in the Highlands as keepers hope they will hear the pitter patter of tiny feet if a suitor is found.

The European Parliament votes to limit the use of plastic bags in Europe, in a drive to curb pollution.

Land-speed record-holder Andy Green sees the installation of the seat he will use in the 1,000mph Bloodhound Super Sonic Car.

The state of New York is to turn off non-essential lights in state-run buildings to help migrating birds navigate routes in spring and autumn.

A fox in Chernobyl has made a large sandwich using cold meats and bread fed to him by a radio crew in the area.

Nepal's devastating magnitude-7.8 earthquake on Saturday was primed over 80 years ago by its last massive earthquake in 1934, geologists working in the region say.

People with lower back problems are more likely to have a spine similar in shape to the chimpanzee, our closest ape ancestor.

Scientists' camera traps offer a snapshot into the secret lives of wildlife inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

One island's bid to track the shy sea creatures

The men who hunt huge prey with rowing boats and spears

The Magnitude 7.8 Nepal earthquake has occurred in what is one of the most seismically active regions in the world.

Is there about to be a cure to 'signal failure'?

In the tightly contested seat of Hastings and Rye, it is the topic of fishing quotas that has become a key election issue

Nasa astronaut Chris Hadfield talks about using social media in space, including recording "Space Oddity" and taking photos at 8kms a second

BBC Newsnight gets rare access to one of the most important cave art sites in the world - and visits its vast replica, which is about to open in France.

BBC Newsnight gets rare access to one of the most important cave art sites in the world - and visits its vast replica, which is about to open in France.

As the Hubble Telescope celebrates its 25th anniversary, BBC News looks back at some of its greatest moments - and images.

Swedish scientists have decoded the DNA of woolly mammoths raising the possibility of recreating the now extinct creatures

The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile has erupted twice in the space of a few hours - having lain dormant for decades.

The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its silver anniversary with a picture featuring a spectacular vista of young stars blazing through a dense cloud of gas and dust.

An orphaned baby wallaby on the Isle of Man dies in her keeper's arms after a week of round-the-clock care.

As Nasa prepares to unveil a new image to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, the BBC's Jane McCubbin reports on how it has enhanced our appreciation of the Universe.

Bees prefer food containing neonicotinoid pesticides, according to research.

Stegosaurs may have sported quite different shaped bony plates on their backs, depending on whether they were male or female, new research claims.

Earth's beauty as seen from space

Researchers question the non-hazardous ranking of plastic, saying its environmental impacts are not subject to the same level of scrutiny as other pollutants.

Scientists piece together the history of a group of extinct Caribbean rats, some of which grew to the size of cats.

Climate scientists are calling on world leaders to sign up to an eight-point plan of action at landmark talks in Paris.

'They're tastier than fish'

Solar Impulse has landed safely in Nanjing in the east of China, much to the delight of its mission control team.

The round-the-world, fuel-free aeroplane, Solar Impulse, arrives in Nanjing to prepare for an epic Pacific crossing.

An international team of researchers proposes adding an extra mass extinction to the current list of five.

The mysterious bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres are back in view.

Bottles of champagne salvaged from a 170-year-old shipwreck have been analysed in the lab

The Borneo Rhino Alliance are trying to find a suitable mate for a Sumatran rhino.

Europe's Rosetta probe catches its comet quarry in the act of producing a huge jet of gas and dust.

A new species of glass frog has been found in the Talamanca mountains of Costa Rica.

A diver from the Isle of Arran in Scotland wins one of the world's most prestigious environmental awards.

Is it safe for Sherpas to go back to Everest?

A land remembered for famine is slowly turned green

Sweden sends Cuba the offspring of endangered crocodiles given by Fidel Castro to a Russian cosmonaut in the 1970s.

Britain's nuclear safety regulator says it expects lessons to be learned from problems with a French reactor that is very similar to one planned in the UK.

A sperm whale surprises scientists carrying our research in the Gulf of Mexico as it circulates their equipment.

A camera powered by the light it uses to take pictures has been invented by American scientists.