Student discovers 'Super earth' planet

Planet GJ1214b, which is about 50 per cent water and could sustain organic life, is spotted 40 light years away

Octopuses use coconut shells for protection

Scientists observe octopuses using shells, which were thrown into the sea by people, as armour and portable hiding places

Pensioner birds ruffle ornithologists’ feathers

Scientists are rethinking the lifespans of birds after 16 species were found to have lived much longer than had been thought

Fossil find reveals early relative of T. rex

Tawa Hallae skeleton unearthed in New Mexico is almost complete and dates from about 213 million years ago

Sexy science: another heated debate

The best option is to attempt to return the planet to an ecosystem that we know works: one with less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Octopuses use coconut shells for protection

Scientists observe octopuses using shells, which were thrown into the sea by people, as armour and portable hiding places

Palm oil is the new economic barometer

The ‘green gold’ industry is destructive but developing Asian countries want the same benefits as those enjoyed by the West

Climate change ‘making polar bears cannibals’

Inuit leaders have dismissed the idea, saying that it is a normal occurrence totally unconnected with global warming

Why mum's and dad's genes really are different

Five DNA variants were found to have opposite medical effects when inherited from the mother than they do when inherited paternally

Banned grape turns out to be mother of all wines

A grape once regarded as so inferior it was scorned, has emerged as the ancestor of fine wines from Chablis to Champagne

Scientists find single ‘on-off’ gender gene

Research that led female mice to develop testes and produce testosterone could revolutionise reassignment therapy

Science rescues children from obesity police

Research undertaken by Cambridge University suggests that the problem lies in the children’s chromosomes, not overfeeding

Data deluge will reboot our brains

The average person gets bombarded with 2.3 words per second, or about 100,000 words a day, according to a new study

Testosterone's reputation largely undeserved

Far from increasing violence and greed, the male hormone can encourage decency and fair play, scientists have found

Schwarzenegger talks dirty

The Governor of California’s rude riposte to the state assembly was random ... surely

Wonderful world: the great survivors

They have soldiered on through meteor showers and volcanic eruptions, but climate change could see off these species

Smokers are mutating their genes

The genetic map of a 55-year-old man’s tumour revealed 22,910 mutations, most caused by the carcinogens in cigarette smoke

Genomics offers hope of targeted cancer drugs

Cancer treatment could be made more precise and less brutal with gene research, but the NHS must invest now to benefit

Aids research suffers setback

Efforts to create a drug that can protect people against HIV are set back as “infection blocking” gel fails trial

Keyhole surgery could cut risk of strokes

Surgeons say a new technique to cover a pocket in the heart could remove the need for patients to take blood-thinning drugs

Scientists spot clues to mystery of dark matter

Hints of mysterious substance thought to make up quarter of the Universe picked up for first time in disused US mine

'Cuts will kill UK's nuclear research programme'

Scientists say a £40m deficit will prevent the training of technicians required for a new generation of nuclear plants

The Eureka Quiz

Three levels of difficulty and - most importantly - the answers

CERN 'a threat' to nuclear energy research

Physicists fear that costs of Hadron Collider experiments could leave programme for new power stations in disarray

'Cuts will kill UK's nuclear research programme'

Scientists say a £40m deficit will prevent the training of technicians required for a new generation of nuclear plants

Britain 'can’t back' Obama's pullout pledge

Rift with US exposed as Defence Secretary says setting date for withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan impossible

Doctor to argue freedom of speech defence

A heart doctor being sued for criticising a US company’s research says scientists must be free to challenge such work

Johnson accused as three more scientists quit

Home Secretary accused of 'political expediency' in his use of scientific advice as fallout grows from sacking of adviser

Student discovers 'Super earth' planet

Planet GJ1214b, which is about 50 per cent water and could sustain organic life, is spotted 40 light years away

Brave the cold for weekend of meteor showers

The new Moon and predicted clear skies mean stargazers could see up to 120 shooting stars an hour this weekend

Vista telescope sheds new light on Milky Way

Situated in Chile, the telescope is the most powerful using infrared light, helping it to penetrate dust clouds

Telescope that could show the sky is crowded

Nasa’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer will reveal stars that were invisible because they are too cool to emit visible light