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BBC News - Science & Environment

Pictured: Winning entries for Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 23:04:11 GMT

South African photographer Wim van den Heever takes the main prize for his shot

Mayor says too many families are 'working poor'

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:46:00 GMT

Tracy Brabin talks to Radio Leeds about the Budget, COP30 and taxing tourists.

Cats became our companions much later than you think

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 20:02:21 GMT

In true feline style, cats took their time in deciding when and where to join us on the sofa.

Top UK scientist says research visa restrictions endanger economy

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 01:20:51 GMT

Prof Sir Paul Nurse says the UK is "shooting itself in the foot" with its visa system for researchers.

'How growing a sunflower helped me fight anorexia'

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 05:04:46 GMT

'Green social prescribing' schemes are being used by NHS doctors to improve patients' mental health.

Melting glaciers threaten to wipe out European villages - is the steep cost to protect them worth it?

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 23:06:56 GMT

Switzerland spends almost $500m a year on protective structures. Is it worth it - or, as some suggest, should people move away from the mountain villages at risk?

Brazil's Amazon rainforest at risk as key protection under threat

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 01:10:54 GMT

Brazilian farmers want to end a ban on planting soya on cleared land, which critics say would spur deforestation.

UN climate talks fail to secure new fossil fuel promises

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 22:38:19 GMT

Nearly 200 countries attended COP30, which aimed to commit the world to take more action on climate change.

COP30: Five key takeaways from a deeply divisive climate summit

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 00:10:18 GMT

What did we learn from a climate summit that ended in a deal with no new mention of fossil fuels?

Deep-sea mining tests impact over a third of seabed animals - scientists

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 08:00:11 GMT

The findings contribute to a controversial debate that pits green technology against the environment.

Physics Nobel awarded to three scientists for work on quantum computing

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:59:52 GMT

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Death toll in Indonesia floods passes 600

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 07:10:41 GMT

Another 500 people are missing, while thousands more have been injured after a cyclone hit the region.

Red Tractor ad banned for misleading environmental claims

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 02:40:44 GMT

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint by environment charity River Action.

From Hollywood to horticulture: Cate Blanchett on a mission to save seeds

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 23:42:05 GMT

The Hollywood actor teams up with Kew’s Millenium Seed Bank as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Asteroid contains building blocks of life, say scientists

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:07:12 GMT

Bennu contains minerals and thousands of organic molecules, including the chemical components that make up DNA.

Rocket launch challenges Elon Musk's space dominance

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:12:27 GMT

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's space company blasts its first rocket into orbit in a challenge to Elon Musk.

'How ambitious was it?': BBC on the ground as COP30 ends

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 22:25:13 GMT

The COP30 climate summit fails to secure new pledges to cut fossil fuels after running over time for more than 18 hours.

SpaceX pulls off Starship rocket launch in much-needed comeback

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 13:00:47 GMT

The Starship rocket is critical to the company's hopes of one day carrying people to the Moon and Mars.

Britain's energy bills problem - and why firms are paid huge sums to stop producing power

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 09:14:11 GMT

Could the government's radical plan to change the way the UK distributes electricity really bring down bills - or just lead to a postcode lottery?

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 17:00:00 GMT

Almost four decades after the first HIV treatment, is there finally a ‘functional’ cure?

The Climate Question

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 08:56:00 GMT

We're still behind on our global warming targets after the big summit in Brazil.

Volcanic eruption may have triggered Europe's deadly Black Death plague

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:00:51 GMT

A volcanic eruption may have set off a chain reaction that led to Europe's deadliest pandemic.

Deep-sea mining tests impact over a third of seabed animals - scientists

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 08:00:11 GMT

The findings contribute to a controversial debate that pits green technology against the environment.

Astronauts Butch and Suni finally back on Earth

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:14:48 GMT

Dolphins circled their capsule after it landed off the coast of Florida.

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:00:00 GMT

As COP 30 draws to close in Brazil, we speak to a former negotiator.

Brazil's Amazon rainforest at risk as key protection under threat

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 01:10:54 GMT

Brazilian farmers want to end a ban on planting soya on cleared land, which critics say would spur deforestation.

Future of space travel: Could robots really replace human astronauts?

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 01:46:51 GMT

Advances in technology raise questions about the need to send people to space - and the risks and cost

Foul skies, fading light: How air pollution is stealing India's sunshine

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 23:06:44 GMT

India’s sunshine hours have fallen over the past 30 years due to clouds, aerosols and local weather.

Campaign group formed to fight wind farm plans

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 08:45:36 GMT

If proposals are approved, 20 turbines will be built between Arkengarthdale and Teesdale.

More North Sea drilling to be allowed in new Labour plan

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 10:32:26 GMT

The chancellor will unveil the North Sea Strategy in her Budget speech, the BBC understands.

Bats are seeking sanctuary in churches - but they're making an unholy mess

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:34:03 GMT

A new study estimates that about half of all churches in England have bats living in them.

SpaceX Starship test fails after Texas launch

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 02:27:56 GMT

Officials at Elon Musk's company said the upper stage was lost, minutes after it launched.

Nasa Apollo missions: Stories of the last Moon men

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 21:31:57 GMT

Of the 24 Nasa astronauts who travelled to the Moon in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, just five remain.

Good news for wild swimmers as bathing water quality improves

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:24:50 GMT

The annual figures from the Environment Agency show 93% of sites met minimum standards, up from 92% last year.

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 17:00:00 GMT

Three decades since the first successful gene therapy, why aren’t we using them more?

The before and after images showing glaciers vanishing before our eyes

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 00:28:17 GMT

They are melting like never seen before, changing landscapes around the world beyond recognition.

Environment prize nominees 'heroes of our time', says William

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 21:04:44 GMT

Fifteen projects are shortlisted for a chance of winning the top £1m prizes at next month's environmental awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.

Inside the lab analysing the world's oldest ice

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 11:58:34 GMT

The BBC's Science Editor Rebecca Morelle goes behind the scenes with the team discovering what the melting of ice from over a million years ago can tell us.

New study on moons of Uranus raises chance of life

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:00:05 GMT

The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the sterile worlds scientists have long thought.

UN climate talks fail to secure new fossil fuel promises

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 22:38:19 GMT

Nearly 200 countries attended COP30, which aimed to commit the world to take more action on climate change.

Landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions in tatters after US pressure

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 16:31:07 GMT

President Trump intervened in the talks calling the deal a "green scam".

Why scientists are counting tiny marine creatures, from Space

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 01:59:32 GMT

Differences in seawater colour could reveal how tiny Antarctic creatures are faring in a warming world.

Soviet-era spacecraft 'likely' to have re-entered Earth's atmosphere

Sat, 10 May 2025 15:32:19 GMT

The spacecraft, which launched in 1972 on a mission to Venus, circled Earth for over five decades.

Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 astronaut, dies aged 97

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 07:01:11 GMT

The commander of Apollo 13 famously rescued his men from near certain death in space.

'It's harder to be a parent than a space shuttle commander', trailblazing Nasa pilot tells BBC

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 02:34:44 GMT

The BBC speaks to astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a Nasa spacecraft.

COP30: Trump and many leaders are skipping it, so does the summit still have a point?

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:09:19 GMT

The US president is notably absent from these UN climate talks, as are other world leaders, all of which prompts questions about the purpose of COP today.

Floods trap people in cars in Spain's Catalonia region

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 21:27:27 GMT

The highest red alert is declared in one coastal province, as residents are urged to stay indoors.

Green turtle bounces back from brink in conservation 'win'

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 08:01:28 GMT

Once endangered due to hunting, it is making a strong recovery thanks to global conservation efforts.

Ratmageddon: Why rats are overrunning our cities

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 06:55:02 GMT

Rats are multiplying at speed in urban areas. So, what's really behind the boom - and is it now unstoppable?

Nasa to put nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030 - US media

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:36:24 GMT

The reactor would provide power for humans on the Moon but there are questions about feasibility.

COP30: Five key takeaways from a deeply divisive climate summit

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 00:10:18 GMT

What did we learn from a climate summit that ended in a deal with no new mention of fossil fuels?

Australia's rainforests are releasing more carbon than they absorb, warn scientists

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 06:28:19 GMT

Australia's rainforests are the first in the world to make the "concerning" switch, say scientists.

Watch: Moment Hawaii volcano eruption engulfs camera

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 09:44:56 GMT

Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, has been erupting intermittently since December last year.

Life on Mars? 'Leopard-spot' rocks could be biggest clue yet

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:00:16 GMT

Unusual mudstones found on the Red Planet are potentially associated with ancient Martian microbes.

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 17:00:00 GMT

The UK government plans to phase out animal experiments. What are the alternatives?

The truth about life on other planets - and what it means for humans

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:11:47 GMT

Could discoveries of alien life ever change the human psyche in how we view ourselves and each other?

Dame Jane Goodall revolutionised our understanding of our closest primate cousins

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 20:53:35 GMT

The conservationist, who died aged 91 on Wednesday, challenged how we relate to the natural world.

Waste from UK's largest opencast mine 'poses significant risk'

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 06:00:01 GMT

There are safety worries as three large spoil tips are set to be left above Merthyr Tydfil.

These robots can clean, exercise - and care for you in old age. Would you trust them to?

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:04:09 GMT

It sounds like something from a sci-fi film - but some scientists believe this clever new tech could help alleviate strains on the UK care system

Naked mole rats' DNA could hold key to long life

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 18:06:04 GMT

The bald, subterranean rats are the world's longest-lived rodent.