LATEST NEWS
Supernova's ghost caught expanding in new video
10:00 07 January 2009
A time-lapse movie suggests the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A may be channelling its energy into creating high-speed cosmic rays
Alien asteroid dust hints at Earth-like planets
17:22 06 January 2009 | 17 comments
Dust with a similar composition to the Earth has been found swaddling six stars, suggesting rocky planets may be common
Yellowstone quakes raise explosion fears
15:36 06 January 2009 | 24 comments
Hundreds of earthquakes rippling through the national park have prompted fears of dangerous steam explosions
Dino 'graveyard' reveals first Asian triceratops
13:32 06 January 2009
The first big discovery has already emerged from China's huge new fossil site – horned dinosaurs that were previously only known in North America
Nanobot lets DNA legs do the walking
FEATURE: 10:48 06 January 2009 | 2 comments
A two-legged molecular machine that is designed to walk unaided along a single strand of DNA could soon carry cargo and may one day deliver drugs inside cells
Love skews your sense of smell
10:26 06 January 2009 | 9 comments
Women who are deeply in love are less able to smell men who might be rivals for their affections
Why storms are good news for fishermen
FEATURE: 10:09 06 January 2009 | 6 comments
You might think fish are unaffected by winds and storms, but in fact what ends up on our dinner plates today depends on what the weather was like a few years ago
Sniff of sickness makes mums prime babies for life
IN BRIEF: 09:59 06 January 2009 | 1 comment
The odour of disease causes pregnant mice to boost their babies' immunity – it is the first proof that environmental cues detected by a pregnant mother can alter traits in her young
Sharpest infrared image of Milky Way's core unveiled
23:48 05 January 2009 | 38 comments
The sharpest infrared picture yet taken of the roiling furnace at the galaxy's centre reveals a new population of massive stars
Darwin missed 'earliest' Galapagos species
19:58 05 January 2009 | 6 comments
A bizarre-looking yet ignored species of land iguana might be one of the earliest examples of species diversification in the Galapagos
FROM THE BLOG
Cheap climate-engineering schemes show promise
Plans to engineer the climate to counter climate change have tended to look like science fiction - but they are now gaining popularity
INTERVIEW
The man who collects molten lava for a living
If it's ultra-fresh gas and lava you want, there's nothing for it but to climb into the mouth of a volcano, says geologist Ken Sims
LIFE
Deep-sea fish uses mirror magic to reflect light
The bizarre-looking spookfish has eyes that use mirrors to pick up on the ocean's bioluminescence
COMMENT OF THE DAY
Richard Hammond presents science show for kids
"Surely it's snobbery to teach science to children by assuming they want crassness and everything to be blown up all the time?" The Aspirant Redbrick Class
SHORT SHARP SCIENCE BLOG
God's own space race
19:12 06 January 2009 - updated 19:30 06 January 2009
Talk of an Islamic space agency raises questions about the role of religion in space
Cheap climate-engineering schemes could get off the ground
15:40 06 January 2009 - updated 17:02 06 January 2009
Plans to engineer the climate on a global scale in order to counter climate change have often been presented as near-science fiction scenarios - shooting a cloud of mirrors into space to reflect the sun's rays, for instance. But now some of these ideas - such as sulphur sunshades and cloud seeding - are slowly gaining pace and popularity, and reputable scientists are working on computer models to simulate their effects...
Fred's Footprint: Migration controls are the new apartheid
11:45 06 January 2009 - updated 16:59 06 January 2009
I like heretical ideas. Especially ones that make more sense the longer you think about them. So here is my New Year offering: let's open the world's borders to migrants...
