Technology

A robot boat, controlled from the UK, has returned from an initial survey of the underwater Tongan volcano that erupted explosively back in January. The Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer is part-way through mapping the opening, or caldera, of th...

Getty ImagesFrom the crunch of leaves underfoot and the fiery foliage adorning the trees, you might be thinking autumn has come early.But experts say this hint of a change in the seasons isn't genuine. Instead it's the tell-tale sign of a "false autu...

ReutersIn mid-July, a 600kg (94 stone) walrus, affectionately nicknamed Freya, appeared near Norway's capital city in the Oslo Fjord.Not one to remain low-key, she soon became a local celebrity, as videos of her awkwardly and slowly scrambling onto b...

Getty ImagesChemists have identified how to destroy "forever chemicals" in a low-cost way for the first time, new research says.Scientists have linked exposure to the substances, known as PFAS, at certain levels to serious health risks, including can...

Getty ImagesScientists have made a breakthrough in a genetic approach that improves food crops' ability to harness the Sun.Researchers developed a way to make photosynthesis - the natural process that all plants use to convert sunlight energy into fo...

NASA Next month Nasa will send a new crew into space. And for the first time there will be a Native American woman aboard.Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, will be mission commander - responsible for all...

Roskosmos A Russian cosmonaut had to urgently abandon his spacewalk "due to a battery power issue" on his spacesuit, the US space agency Nasa says. It says Oleg Artemyev was ordered back by Russian controllers on the ground to the airlock of the Inte...

University of BristolScientists say they have solved an evolutionary mystery involving a 500 million-year-old microscopic, spiny creature with a mouth but no anus. When it was discovered in 2017, it was reported that the tiny fossil of this sack...

Getty ImagesFruit and vegetables on the shelves will be smaller and look different as the summer's hot and dry weather hits crops, experts say.Potatoes, onions, carrots, apples and Brussels sprouts are likely to be worst-affected.Many areas of the UK...

Getty ImagesAround 16 football pitches of trees per minute were lost to forest fires in 2021, a new report says. Data from Global Forest Watch suggests that across the globe, the amount of tree cover being burned has nearly doubled in the past 20 yea...

Getty ImagesThe UK government has begun what may be its final effort to resolve a dispute over the UK's membership of the EU's €100bn Horizon research programme.It has written to Brussels urging it to "end persistent delays" in delivering on its prom...

Getty ImagesAfter weeks of hot and dry conditions in most of the UK, with drought declared in parts of England, it might seem that a good downpour is what we need.But the heavy rainfall and thunderstorms forecast by the Met Office this week could ins...

Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty ImagesWorld leaders will meet at the UN in New York later for more talks to save the world's oceans from overexploitation. The UN High Seas Treaty has been through 10 years of negotiations but has yet to be signed. If agreed, i...

Getty ImagesThe ongoing drought in the UK and Europe is putting electricity generation under pressure, say experts.Electricity from hydropower - which uses water to generate power - has dropped by 20% overall.And nuclear facilities, which are cooled ...

University of ReadingResearchers from the University of Reading are "chasing" Arctic cyclones over the sea ice, north of Norway. The team of scientists - together with a specialist pilot - are trying to fly their small research aircraft through summe...

David Barton's fields on his farm in Gloucestershire should be green and full of grazing cattle.Instead the grass has turned yellow, the land is bone-dry, and many of the crops that feed his cows have died."Every day that it doesn't rain, every day t...

Tony Jolliffe BBCEnvironmental groups say the prolonged dry spell is having a "serious" impact on wildlife in rivers.With rivers already under pressure from pollution and use for drinking water, they say the looming drought is adding to the strain.Ch...

Compass GroupSupermarket shoppers could soon be checking the environmental impact of food before putting it in their trolleys, thanks to new research.Reliable information of this kind hasn't been available.That's because UK manufacturers only have to...

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle Scientists have identified the weather conditions that create dry lightning, which starts California's most devastating wildfires. These conditions can be modelled over the long term to better predict...

Getty ImagesThe US Senate has approved a sweeping $700bn (£577bn) economic package that includes major legislation on healthcare, tax and climate change.The bill seeks to lower the cost of some medicines, increase corporate taxes and reduce carbon em...

Getty ImagesThe US Senate has approved a bill that includes $369bn (£305bn) for climate action - the largest investment in America's history.The authors of the Inflation Reduction Act say it will cut the country's carbon emissions by 40% by 2030.Some...

Getty ImagesDemocrats cried with joy and pumped their fists in the air after the US Senate finally approved a key plank of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda.The bill, a product of 18-months of intense wrangling, will now be sent to the Democratic...

Getty Images French officials desperately trying to rescue a beluga whale trapped in the River Seine have come up with a new strategy - a vitamin cocktail. According to AFP, rescuers hope it will help the lost whale regain its appetite and the energy...

Getty Images The grass is always greener on the other side. Just ask Lisa Morris, her Dartford lawn in Kent was brown. "It was shocking. A dead lawn," she says. "We'd never been able to maintain it and spent a fortune on grass seeds. We even put new ...