Science Headlines
Why zebras evolved their stripes
A zebra's unmistakeable stripes may have evolved to make the animals unattractive to blood-sucking flies, say scientists.
VIDEO: Tribes untouched by civilisation
Saving the mysterious Amazon tribes untouched by modern world
Does Offering Smaller Portions At Restaurants Help People Eat Less?
Asking for less food isn't something most people think about when ordering from a menu. A new study suggests that asking people if they want less food and, in turn, fewer calories, before they order is key.
A New Weapon Against Nukes: Social Media
A top State Department official wants to unleash the power of Twitter, Facebook and other services to crowdsource the fight to control the world's nuclear weapons.
'Amasia': The Next Supercontinent?
More than 100 million years from now, the Americas and Asia might fuse together, squishing the Arctic Ocean shut in the process. That's according to a new model that predicts where the next supercontinent may form. But don't worry: Humans will likely be long gone by then.
Threshold broken for tiny lasers
Researchers build efficient lasers just 100 billionths of a metre across that may be used to make faster computer chips in the future.
VIDEO: Nepal national park breeds crocs
A breeding centre in Nepal's Chitwan National Park is preparing endangered Gharial crocodiles for release back into the wild.
America and Asia 'will join up'
Researchers say most of the world's continents will merge somewhere over the Pacific "ring of fire" in 50-200 million years.
VIDEO: 'I carried Mars rock in hand luggage'
The Natural History Museum in London has acquired its largest Martian meteorite, which could hold new clues to life on Mars.
Russians claim Antarctic success
Russian scientists are reporting success in their quest to drill into Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice.
Rare Mars meteorite for science
A Martian meteorite, an incredibly rare object, is given to the Natural History Museum, London, to help unravel the secrets of the Red Planet.
7 questions on skydiving and parachuting
Test yourself on the history of aerial adventure
'Rasputin Was My Neighbor' And Other True Tales Of Time Travel
There are people who live long enough to create a link — a one-generation link — to figures from what feels like a distant past. And their presence among us shrinks history.
Star nursery in sharpest picture
The most detailed infrared image ever of the Carina Nebula
VIDEO: Converting solar energy into new fuels
Researchers in Glasgow are working on a way to remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and put oil back under the North Sea.
Parkinson's cells 'made in lab'
Scientists in the US have successfully made human brain cells in the lab that are an exact replica of genetically caused Parkinson's disease.
Corals inflate to escape the sand
Time-lapse footage reveals how mushroom corals inflate and deflate to free themselves from smothering sand.
Whales 'stressed by ocean noise'
A study of hormones in whale faeces shows that right whales are stressed by propeller noise from shipping.
Ape versus machine
The primate who solves a memory test faster than you can blink
Satellites spy on Europe’s farms
How drones and satellites are catching farming cheats
VIDEO: Skydiver: My mum's still scared
An Austrian adventurer planning the highest skydive in history has announced he will make the attempt later this year.
Wolfram Alpha unveils Pro service
The data-crunching site unveils a premium service that allows users to upload data, photos and sounds for analysis.
VIDEO: How plants warn each other of danger
Professor Iain Smith shows how researchers have captured the process by which plants alert each other to potential threat.
Gabon: Surfing hippos, lacking tourists
Why has Gabon failed to become tourist hot-spot?
Five killer whales 'sue' SeaWorld
Five killer whales are named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit which argues that they deserve the same constitutional protection from slavery as humans.
'Invader' drives ladybird decline
Fast declines in some UK and European ladybirds are being caused by the spread of the invasive harlequin species, scientists show.
Skydiver planning 36km record bid
Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian planning to sky dive from a record-breaking altitude, has announced he will make the attempt later this year.
Jurassic cricket's song recreated
The "love song" of a 165-million-year-old insect is recreated from a tiny and remarkably intact fossil, say scientists.
Engineer Who Warned Of Challenger Dangers Dies
The rocket scientist who argued vigorously against the fatal launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger has died. Roger Boisjoly led a group of five Morton Thiokol engineers who tried to stop the launch in a series of conference calls with NASA the night before the tragedy. Boisjoly presented data showing cold launch-time temperatures could cause the joints on the shuttle's booster rockets to fail catastrophically. He was also one of two whistleblowers who anonymously revealed the launch decision debate to NPR a few weeks after the launch.
Climate consensus cracking open - or not...
What's the evidence for a decline of "climate change consensus"?
Contador given two-year drug ban
Alberto Contador is handed a two-year ban for a doping offence - and is stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title.
Mars co-operation near collapse
US space agency officials let their European counterparts know that it is now highly unlikely that America will participate in joint missions to the Red Planet in 2016 and 2018.
Clan chief joins conservation row
A clan chief is accusing the Scottish government and SNH of not listening to islanders' concerns about a conservation area.
Transplant jaw made by 3D printer
An 83-year-old woman is fitted with a jaw made by a 3D printer in what doctors say is the first operation of its kind.
Robots Encountering Socks
Suppose you're a robot. If you had a camera in your head, and you could watch a human doing a simple task, like bunching a pair of socks, could you, just by watching, learn to do it too?
In pictures: Making charcoal from Liberian rubber trees
Pictures reveal how charcoal keeps Liberia cooking
China in EU carbon scheme 'ban'
China tells its airlines not to pay charges to the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, aimed at cutting carbon emissions.
'Birth defect risk' for diabetics
The risk of birth defects increases four-fold if the pregnant mother has diabetes, a study of 400,000 pregnancies in England suggests.
In pictures: Deep sea discoveries
Scientists find two species of colourful worms
PM urged to cut wind farm subsidy
More than 100 Conservatives are among MPs who have written to the prime minister calling on him to slash subsidies for onshore wind turbines.
VIDEO: Birds' paradise lost in Kashmir?
Nearly a million migratory birds visit Kashmir's wetlands every year, but this time the severe winter has made it nearly impossible for them to find food.
Two Deaths: A Poet And A Beetle
Poet Wislawa Szymborska had an eye for the smallest, the gentlest, the hard-to-notice creatures on Earth and this week she bid them all adieu. Krulwich remembers Wislawa Szymborska.
VIDEO: MPs urge PM to cut wind farm subsidy
More than 100 Conservative MPs have written to David Cameron calling on him to slash subsidies for onshore wind turbines.
Anti-fracking demo in Enniskillen
About 100 people gather in Enniskillen to demonstrate against the use of fracking to extract gas from shale rock in County Fermanagh.
20 Million Years Later, Russians Work To Drill Into Lake
Russian researchers in Antarctica are on the verge of piercing a hole through two miles of ice into an ancient lake, untouched by the light of day for some 20 million years. But it'll be a delicate process to break through without disturbing the pristine waters. Guest host David Green speaks with Antarctic researcher John Priscu about the process.
Oil spurs Canadian PM China visit
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit China next week to discuss Canada's oil products, after the US blocked a key pipeline.
Prince optimistic for fisheries
Prince Charles says there are reasons to be optimistic about the state of the world's oceans, but it is "critically urgent" to tackle overfishing.
Do the dead outnumber the living?
Do the dead outnumber the living, or vice versa?
'Arctic Oscilliation' Behind Season's Mixed Winter Weather
For snow fans in the contiguous US, this winter has left much to be desired. The warm and mild season in the lower 48 and the wild snow dumps and cold weather up north in Alaska can be blamed largely on a weather pattern called "arctic oscillation." Audie Cornish gets an explanation of the weather phenomenon from meteorologist Jeffrey Masters.
New USDA Map May Mean Earlier Planting In North
A new map from the USDA has some northern gardeners hoping to grow plants that used to be considered too fragile for cold weather zones. The hardiness zone chart is about a half zone warmer than the last one issued in 1990. The USDA says the changes are not due to global warming, but to more sophisticated mapping methods. Seed sellers and buyers say that, whatever the reason, the warmer temperatures expand possibilities for planting this spring.
