Science

A man in a red vest and a colourful wrap around his waist standing on a roof top flying a red kite with the tower and dome of the Jama Masjid Mosque in Old Delhi in the background (Credit: Vijay Pandey)

In modern India, kites vanish from the skies

Recent heatwaves and a number of deaths due to illegal kite strings have seen many abandoning the once popular pastime.

Inside the Moon mission to fly humans further than ever

Nasa's Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch as soon as 1 April, will bring us stunning views of the Moon.

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, is seen as it rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B, Friday, March 20, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Nasa's Artemis Moon rocket rolls back to pad for possible April launch

Nasa is preparing a mission to send astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

Higgs boson breakthrough was UK triumph, but British physics faces 'catastrophic' cuts

Can Ukraine's war-torn wheatfields be cleansed?

Spectacular images reveal unique sea creatures and corals off Caribbean islands

What stone-age language sounds like

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Earth's spectacular and remote 'capital' of lightning

With storms occurring between 140 and 160 nights a year, it's no wonder the area is a world record holder.

3 days ago

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Inventor reveals one-ball successor to viral bike

A giant tortoise being released on the Galu00e1pagos island of Floreana

Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island after nearly 200 years

Slow-motion footage reveals secrets of snake bites

How can rollercoasters hold so much weight?

Fascinating reads

A collage of a woman smiling at a mirror, the reflection shows an older woman looking back at her (Credit: Serenity Strull/ BBC)

How defying ageism can help you live longer

Research shows a positive attitude towards ageing can make people feel younger and live longer.

International Space Station (ISS) in orbit (Credit: Nasa)

How to evacuate a doomed space station - quickly

Astronauts orbiting the Earth are drilled to deal with the worst possible scenarios. That includes having to leave their space station on short notice.

Panels and cables of the Large Hadron Collder at Cern (Credit: Alamy)

The ultra-cold temperatures needed for epic nuclear science

One of the world's most sophisticated scientific facilities is turning to jaw-droppingly low temperatures to try and unravel the secrets of the Universe.

Carlos Alcaraz jumps to return a ball with his tennis racket (Credit: Getty Images)

What are your chances of beating top tennis stars?

An unusual tennis competition that pits amateurs against professionals in one-point matches is launching at the Australian Open.

A footballer wearing a yellow jersey with a dark stripe, stretches to head a ball

The unseen damage from heading a ball in sport

Why sports stars who head the ball are much more likely to die of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.

A black-and-white image of Mercury partly in shadow captured by the Messenger spacecraft (Credit: Nasa)

The planet that shouldn't exist

Mercury has long baffled astronomers because it defies much of what we know about planet formation. A new space mission arriving in 2026 might solve the mystery.

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12 Mar 2026

An artists' conception of two Van Allen Probes spacecraft in the Van Allen Radiation Belt

Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb re-enters Earth's atmosphere

Much of the Van Allen Probe was expected to burn up in the atmosphere, though Nasa said there was a "low" risk of people being struck by surviving components.

12 Mar 2026

24 Feb 2026

Ilya Kazansky, CEO of Sphotonix wearing a white lab coat and blue latex gloves holds up a small square glass plate with grid markings on it to see through it (Credit: SPhotonix)

How 'memory crystals' could slash data emissions

In the face of rising emissions from data centres, researchers are turning to micro-explosions in glass, and using DNA to solve big data's big problem.

24 Feb 2026

27 Feb 2026

A large and very bright full Moon appears directly behind the top of Nasa's Space Launch System rocket at night. The orange and white rocket is sitting next to a steel support structure called a mobile launcher.

Nasa announces change to its Moon landing plans

It is adding an extra mission to its Artemis programme before landing astronauts on the Moon.

27 Feb 2026

26 Feb 2026

A figurine shaped like a mammoth. It is ivory colour with dark grey patches, and has deeply-engraved lines of crosses and dots

First writing may be 40,000 years earlier than thought

Scientists believe they have found evidence of written thoughts of Stone Age people on ancient objects.

26 Feb 2026

1 Jan 2026

A composite image of artefacts found in medieval cemetery, on the left is a green almost circular metal brooch with a long pin, on the right is a fragment of a comb with broken teeth that has been carved from antler.

Intriguing finds could solve mystery of women in medieval cemetery

There is growing evidence that the women were part of an early female religious community.

1 Jan 2026

25 Feb 2026

Two adult Emperor penguins and four chicks with fluffy grey coats on ice with a bright blue sky behind them

Why scientists fear Emperor penguins' annual moult may be killing them

Each year the birds must stay on floating ice long enough to replace their weather-beaten feathers.

25 Feb 2026

26 Feb 2026

The United Downs power plant in Cornwall is shown, there are various silver pipes surrounding a central plant that has a series of large fan type structures surrounded by yellow pipes. There are trees in the background and the sky is blue.

Earth's heat to power 10,000 homes in renewable energy first for UK

Water super-heated by rocks will also provide the UK's first domestic supply of the critical mineral lithium.

26 Feb 2026

24 Feb 2026

A rocket takes off from a base in Norway

Orbital space race heats up in Arctic north

Europe lags far behind the US and China in orbital space launches, but new facilities are opening up.

24 Feb 2026

20 Feb 2026

Trump directs US government to prepare release of files on aliens and UFOs

Trump says he will seek release of files on extraterrestrials, "based on the tremendous interest shown".

20 Feb 2026

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