BBC News

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.

The global demand for rubber tyres is threatening protected forests in Southeast Asia, according to a study.

Although Arctic sea ice set a record this year for its lowest ever satellite-observed winter extent - that was not the case for its volume, new data reveals.

Scientists are developing smartphone-connected waders that fly-fishing enthusiasts could wear to help them find their catch, but also to collect key data about water properties.

Tonnes of dead fish are being removed from a lake in the centre of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, which is due to host rowing and canoeing events at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Two Russian polar bears make their debut at Sao Paulo's Aquarium, as the only members of their species in the country.

Will Moore's Law last another 50 years?

The disabled boy struggling to find a role with the people of the sea

Researchers reveal the secret of an octopus's unique movement, revealing how the animals co-ordinate their eight, flexible arms.

Observations from space assist the search for new locations to site geothermal power stations.

Graham Satchell explains why fracking is such a divisive subject.

Any attempts to engineer the climate are likely to result in "different" climate change, rather than its elimination, new results suggest.

BBC News looks at the idea of "stranded assets", part of the debate on climate change and global energy policy.

What does the flurry of new studies say about dark matter?

Scientists are using YouTube videos to study a spectacular cave just outside Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Scientists quantify the emissions from Iceland's spectacular Bardarbunga-Holuhraun eruption.

Scientists have uncovered a vital new insight into the nature of dark matter.

The New Horizons probe, which is bearing down on Pluto, has captured its first colour image of the distant dwarf planet.

A gray whale makes a 22,500 km (14,000 mile) journey across the Pacific Ocean - the longest migration of any mammal, say scientists.

US firm SpaceX narrowly fails to recover its rocket booster in an otherwise successful mission to the space station.

The SpaceX supply ship is on its way to the ISS with a supply of groceries and a specially designed espresso machine.

The comet being trailed through space by Europe's Rosetta probe has no magnetic field of its own - an important observation in the understanding of how the icy dirt-ball formed billions of years ago.

Campaigners in the Netherlands are taking the government to court for allegedly failing to protect its citizens from climate change.

Environmental groups are calling for a three-year ban on the culling of mountain hares on grouse moors across Scotland.

From chopping the ingredients to doing the washing up - an all-action "robo-chef" for the home is being developed by a London-based company.

The carcass of a rare whale is washed up on a Western Australia beach following Tropical Cyclone Olwyn, which hit the region last month.

ULA, the company that conducts most of America's rocket launches, releases details of its next generation vehicle, which it is calling the Vulcan.

A small robot which filmed the first images inside the reactor of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, stopped working just three hours into its mission.

Nasa's Curiosity rover has found that water can exist as a liquid near the Martian surface.

Japan is offering to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030 - falling short of its earlier Kyoto Agreement pledge.

Warming seas will push traditional fish and chips off the British menu, a study suggests.