BBC News

A professor has won £2.3m for applying complex maths to simple situations - like stirring tea.

Pollutants still blight all of England's rivers, lakes and streams, the Environment Agency says.

A team of scientists say this explains why those stung feel intense pain lasting for days or even weeks.

The 2020 Ig Nobel prizes honour crocodilian vocalisations, narcissistic eyebrows and vibrating worms.

Using sound waves from underwater earthquakes, researchers can more accurately measure sea temperatures.

Scientists say wildfires in Siberia, Russia, have been releasing record amounts of greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming.

Renewable energy study looks into the secrets of the rocks on which the city's east end stands.

Scientists calculate how many tiny fibres our polyester and nylon garments lose in the wash.

Although marketed as a green option, the cars cause more polluting than is claimed, campaigners say.

Conservation experts urge the prime minister to take a lead on reversing the decline in nature.

Grants will promote ideas to detect, characterise and track the millions of objects moving overhead.

The ancient bear, unearthed by reindeer herders, has been hailed as a find of "great importance".

Humanity is at a crossroads and action is needed to slow nature's accelerating decline, says the UN.

Modified animals could improve sustainable meat production, but safety and ethical issues remain.

A full-size, crewless research ship is to make one of the world's first autonomous transatlantic voyages.

With interest in the possibility of life at Venus, there's an imperative to get more spacecraft to the planet.

Telescope observations spy a gas high in the atmosphere of Venus that on Earth is made by microbes.

The technology giant has also pledged to be using only carbon-free energy by 2030.

At least one humpback whale remains in the Australian river after getting lost.

A big chunk of ice breaks away from the Arctic's largest remaining ice shelf - 79N, or Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden.

The head of the industry body is urging government to create new green jobs to lift productivity.

The government is urged to do more to get people to wear reusable, washable face coverings.

How do physics and space travel inspire musicians? Award-winning producer Paul Epworth finds out.

The fires raging in three states show that the climate debate "is over", California's governor says.

The naturalist warns that a million species are at risk but says it is not too late to save them.

Research projects involving the public can raise awareness but are less useful for delivering hard data.

Kellogg's redesigns the snackfood container that was dubbed the "number one villain" for recycling.

Zion Lights says a car-crash TV interview led her to rethink her support for Extinction Rebellion.

Members of the public give climate change solutions to MPs, but activists say the report isn't enough.

Conservation group WWF says global wildlife populations have shrunk by two-thirds since 1970.

More than 32,000 tonnes of the chemicals were approved for export by the UK in 2018, says Greenpeace.

The firm's Maybelline brand has set up recycling points in shops including Tesco and Superdrug.

Claire O'Neill condemns what she calls broken promises and backsliding on climate commitments.

AstraZeneca describes the pause in its keenly-awaited final clinical trials as routine.

Very little is known about the Chinese vehicle that has been compared to the US's X-37 space plane.

Global lockdowns disrupted CO2 emissions temporarily say scientists but they didn't stop climate change.

People living in the Brazilian Amazon are facing the twin dangers of the coronavirus and forest fires.

Sea and airborne surveys show how Antarctica's mighty Thwaites ice stream can be melted from below.

The camera detector for the Vera Rubin Observatory takes its first test images in the laboratory.

The bloc's environment agency says pollution contributes to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.

The German government considers creating an offshore launchpad for satellites.

The record-breaking Nile level could inundate precious relics as the country is hit by heavy rains.

Pine martens prefer feasting on grey squirrels, which is helping to save reds, say conservationists.

The fires have burned through more than two million acres in California so far this year, fire officials say.

Australian species roam over massive distances and help the land recover from fire, research finds.

Scientists are stunned that bacteria attached to the outside of the International Space Station survived for three years.

The highway code is being revised - how well do you know the changes?

Hundreds of mammals will go extinct if we do not act now to address biodiversity loss, say scientists.

Sixteen thousand academics urge EU leaders to increase investment over the next seven years.

Mature male elephants play a crucial role in passing on their knowledge to younger males, a study suggests.