The Hubble space telescope returns to view one of its favourite subjects - a giant stellar explosion first seen from Earth in 1987.

A group of Danish rocket enthusiasts trying to launch a dummy 30km into the sky abort the mission when a valve on their rocket freezes up.

A mix of chemicals borrowed from plants with tiny tubes of carbon can spontaneously create tiny, self-repairing solar cells.

Nasa is aiming to get closer to the Sun than ever before, with plans to plunge a car-sized unmanned spacecraft into the star's outer atmosphere.

Israeli scientists believe they have identified why Arabic is particularly hard to learn to read.

Researchers begin a study of the "super-sized" mice found on a tiny Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides.

The re-introduction of wolves to a US National Park has not helped re-establish quaking aspens, as many researchers had hoped.

Ultrafine measurements of atmospheric gases could help scientists track down the last sources of CFCs thought to be slowing the recovery of the ozone layer.

The government's chief environment scientist calls for more openness in admitting the UK's cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are an illusion.

There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, Professor Stephen Hawking concludes in a new book.

A potentially revolutionary circuit component, once a laboratory curiosity, is to be mass-produced for the first time.

Europe's Herschel space telescope spies an aging star that has surrounded itself in hot water vapour.

An ancient reef may provide scientists with clues about what will happen to coral when sea temperatures rise.

A metal detecting enthusiast finds what is believed to be the only intact Roman lantern made out of bronze ever discovered in Britain.

Scientists have found evidence for an ancient sea passage linking currently isolated areas of Antarctica.

A further test ignition takes place on the giant booster intended to power Nasa's next big rocket.

A growing number of New York sky-scrapers switch off their lights at night to help reduce the number of migratory birds hitting the buildings.

A species of acacia tree found in Eastern Africa seems to be protected from elephant damage - by the ants that live on it.

Some 57,000 people have been forced from their homes because of dramatic floods in south-western Sudan over the past month, officials say.

An earthquake is recorded in the North Sea about 155 miles east of Aberdeen.

The UN's climate science body needs stricter checks to prevent damage to its credibility, an independent review concludes.

The vast majority of biofuels sold on UK forecourts are imported and do not conform to environmental standards, figures show.

Great apes play tag in similar way to humans, an international team of scientists finds.

New-born twin giant pandas made their first public appearance at a zoo in Japan on Friday in Shirahama.

Researchers begin a three-year study to uncover the secrets of St Kilda's super-sized field mice.

Hundreds of sharks have been spotted off the Queensland coast.

There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, the physicist and mathematician Professor Stephen Hawking has said.

A rare Chinese tree has flowered for the first time in 23 years at Kew's country estate in West Sussex.

One of the giant booster rockets intended to power the first stage of flight on Nasa's next rocket has been tested in the US.

Researchers working on trials of genetically modified crops in Norfolk have grown potatoes which resist disease.

Dr Andy Harland of Loughborough University analyses what new free-kick trajectory findings mean for footballers.

Inside the Royal Navy's powerful and stealthy attack submarine

Rare weather events caused last winter's freak snow storms

Why bed-bugs are on the march again

Darwin's artificial rainforest in the South Atlantic