Nasa’s rover successfully lands on Mars
The US space agency has landed a huge new robot rover on Mars. The one-tonne vehicle, known as Curiosity, was reported to have landed in a deep crater near the planet’s equator at 06:32 BST (05:32 GMT). It will now embark on a mission of at least two years to look for evidence that Mars may once have supported life. A signal confirming the rover More...
Shrinking of glaciers puzzle scientists
Ice loss from Greenland’s vast sheet may happen mainly in short bursts, research by Danish scientists suggests. They used aerial photos dating back to the 1980s to plot shrinking of glaciers around the island’s More...
Genetic entrepreneur will compete for Genomics X Prize
A race to unlock genetic clues behind living to 100 is set to begin next year, after a US team announced it will compete for the $10m Genomics X Prize. Genetic entrepreneur Dr Jonathan Rothberg is entering the challenge More...
LHC claims discovery of Higgs boson like particle
Cern scientists reporting from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have claimed the discovery of a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson. The particle has been the subject of a 45-year hunt to explain how matter More...
Early human relative chewed bark
An early relative of humans chewed on bark and leaves, according to fossil evidence. Analysis of food trapped in the teeth of the two-million-year-old “southern ape” suggests it existed on a unique diet More...
Mother gorillas use baby talk to communicate with infants
Mother gorillas use a type of “baby talk” when communicating with infants, according to scientists. The team studied captive western lowland gorillas, watching and filming the animals as they interacted. These More...
Climate change threatens life
With forests and fish stocks declining, water demand rising and lack of action on climate change, humanity’s path is anything but sustainable, the UN warns. The Global Environmental Outlook says significant More...
Rare Venus moves across the Sun
Planet Venus has put on a show for skywatchers by moving across the face of the Sun as viewed from Earth. The transit was a very rare astronomical event that would not be seen again for another 105 years. Observers More...
Supervolcanoes can grow in few hundred years
The largest volcanoes on our planet may take as little as a few hundred years to form and erupt. These “supervolcanoes” were thought to exist for as much as 200,000 years before releasing their vast More...
Mars has life building blocks
New evidence from meteorites suggests that the basic building blocks of life are present on Mars. The study found that carbon present in 10 meteorites, spanning more than four billion years of Martian history, came More...
