Scientists create the rarest and most valuable material on the planet – metallic hydrogen
Material could be used as a superconductor and a powerful rocket propellant far beyond current fuels.
Scientists find a way to make tomatoes tasty again
Years of selecting tomatoes for being larger and firmer has led to the loss of original taste.
This is what triggered the biggest supervolcano eruption in history
Quartz crystals at Lake Toba reveal change in magmatic system just before eruption.
Universe expansion rate creates cosmological problem beyond our current understanding
Hubble constant, measured to 3.8% accuracy, indicates "we are missing something fundamental".
British astronaut Tim Peake is going back to space
Plans for second mission announced at unveiling of the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft at the Science Museum.
Women really are better at multitasking than men
Men and women carrying out walking and language tasks at same time show unexpected gender differences.
Asteroid the size of a house to whiz past Earth just days after being discovered
The 45ft asteroid travelling at 16,600mph will pass earth at a distance of 162,252 miles.
A monster otter that roamed Earth six million years ago has been discovered in China
Huge species was as big as a wolf and is thought to be the largest otter to have ever lived.
Super paper that can withstand fire and water created by scientists
Team from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics change paper structure to make it fire and water-resistant.
Visit the deepest part of the ocean with Don Walsh through VR
Walsh and Jacques Piccard became the first humans to descend to full ocean depth in January 1960.
The hunt for alien life on nearby exoplanet Wolf 1061c has begun
Astronomer Stephen Kane analyses a potentially habitable planet just 14 light years away.
Neanderthals collected pretty rocks just for the sake of it
Limestone rock was found in same cave where eagle talon jewellery was discovered.
Enduring mystery of Africa's fairy circles finally solved
Warring termites and resource competition combine to create weird circular arid grass formations in Namibia.
Massive 10,000km-long structure spotted in Venus' atmosphere – before abruptly disappearing
The huge bright, hot structure was found in the upper atmosphere by the Jaxa Akatsuki spacecraft.
The Arctic permafrost is starting to thaw and that is very, very bad news
Max Holmes from the Woods Hole Research Centre explains what thawing permafrost means for the environment and people living in these regions
It became cold. I mean, really cold: Global temperatures in the aftermath of the dinosaur-killing asteroid
The big chill that followed the impact appears to have played a bigger role in dinosaur extinction than we thought.
Ancient Egyptian crypts containing babies and a crocodile discovered at Gebel el Silsila
Archaeologists uncover tombs and crypts dating to the reigns of Pharaohs Thutmose III and Amenhotep II.
High-speed viper strike caught on camera at 500 frames per second
Scientists show how rattlesnakes and kangaroo rats have evolved attack and evade techniques.
Megalodon might have gone extinct because of its weakness for tiny whales
Bite marks indicate Carcharocles megalodon was feeding on relatively small prey before they disappeared.
Mice turned into zombie killing machines with special laser beam
Optogenetics used to target area of the brain related to emotion and motivation to trigger hunting behaviour.
Baboons can make 'vowel-like sounds' raising key questions about the origin of language
Analysis of baboon vocal tracts and sounds they make show capacity for speech emerged at least 25 million years ago.
Crapchat? Rhino dunghills are social networks where they can post status updates
Scientists say discovery could help explain why so many mammals use communal defecation sites.
A Japanese macaque has been spotted trying to have sex with a sika deer
Interspecies sex is rarely recorded in the wild – with this case in Japan being only the second.
Clones of South Korea's best sniffer dog fail to impress Russian police – they can't follow orders and hate the cold
Dogs were gifted to police in Yakutia by cloning expert Hwang Woo Suk, who wants to bring back the woolly mammoth.
ESO and Breakthrough Initiatives to hunt for planets in our neighbouring solar system, Alpha Centauri
Very Large Telescope will be used to look at the star system and consider the best targets for exploration.
No giant cosmic collision? Leading theory on how the Moon formed challenged
Study indicates a giant collision between Earth and the Mars-sized protoplanet Theia never happened.
Two stars are about to smash into each other and the explosion will be visible with the naked eye
There's just a one in a million chance of predicting an explosion – and US scientists have done just that.
One of the world's biggest icebergs is about to break away from Antarctica
Iceberg 1/4 the size of Wales would result in the Larsen C Ice Shelf losing over 10% of its area.
Drug stops spread of melanoma by up to 90% - and it could be used to treat breast and pancreatic cancer
Chemical compound developed that shuts down the disease's ability to spread.
The worst is yet to come: Scientist warns social instability and political violence will peak in the 2020s
We seem to be well on track for the 2020s instability peak, warns Peter Turchin.
