Boom in bird tables has changed evolution

Scientists in Germany believe some birds may have changed their migration habits because of an increase in feeding tables

Wonderful world: the great survivors

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

Top climate scientist hopes summit will fail

'Grandfather' of global warming James Hansen plans to boycott Copenhagen climate conference, denouncing it as a farce

Abstinence makes the booby’s feet grow bluer

A year’s abstinence may sound an unlikely recipe for sexual success but for one bird it can work wonders for male prowess

IN DEPTH: the climate change doubters

The sceptic landscape ranges from those scurrilously pursuing scientific truth to others with more obvious aims

ANALYSIS: too big for a conspiracy

The idea that global warming is an elaborate hoax suffers from the fatal flaw that afflicts most conspiracy theories

Ex-civil servant to head 'climategate' inquiry

Head of judicial body will lead investigation into claims that prominent scientists manipulated global warming data

Cheat sheets: your Copenhagen cultural guide

How to sound intelligent about the climate change pow-wow

Science rescues children from obesity police

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

Genes wage arms race in battle of sexes

Scientists believe the male genome does not 'trust' the female genome to make an adequate placenta, so imprints its genes

Having two mothers may be key to a longer life

Japanese research which could have implications for human ageing suggests fathers’ genes reduce lifespan

World-first stem cell therapy for eye disease

Trials for treatment of Stargardt's disease to begin in spring if world's first embryonic stem cell therapy is approved

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

So what if green is not the new black?

The green lifestyle was all the rage not so long ago. Now, just when we all need to adopt it, it's out of fashion

Why it isn't easy being green

How do we convince our inner caveman to be greener? We ask some eminent social scientists what is holding us back

Unlocking the cruellest prison

New research is giving hope to people such as the man who spent 23 years ‘locked’ in his body and unable to communicate

‘Bionic eye’ allows blind man to read again

Doctors at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital stunned by the results of a trial using a camera that sends signals to the brain

Boots defends marketing of homeopathy as effective

Chief pharmacist at Boots said responsibility to regulate marketing of homeopathic products lay with UK drug regulator

Mint tea 'as effective as aspirin' scientists find

Research showed the herb known as Brazilian mint reduced pain as much as a soluble form of the conventional painkiller.

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

Huge experiment to look at elusive neutrinos

A scientific project in Japan is investigating a fundamental particle called the neutrino, about which much is unknown

Hadron Collider makes first particle collisions

The 'big bang' machine smashed its first proton beams together, three days after a 14-month shutdown for repairs

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

Advisers have a right to speak plainly

Ministers must think twice before commissioning opinions they have no intention of heeding and then shooting the messenger

Captured on film: hottest star in the Galaxy

Refurbished Hubble telescope detects dying star 3,500 light years from Earth that has never been seen before

Astronauts home after six months on space station

After 188 days in zero-gravity, a Russian, Belgium and Canadian touched down in Kazakhstan ending an epic journey

Evidence of life on Mars lurks in meteorite

Nasa scientists have produced the most compelling evidence yet that bacterial life exists on Mars

Nasa finds enough water for man on Moon to have bath

Nasa's lunar probe makes the discovery after being deliberately crashed into moon and making a new crater on the surface