Sky High

Let's put a Brit in space, says minister

Newly appointed Science Minister says UK participation in missions to the Moon or Mars would inspire a generation

Manned flight no longer a risky indulgence

A change in global ambitions for spaceflight means that exciting missions lie ahead that UK scientists are eyeing with envy

Shrimps’ ancient chain gang mystifies scientists

Mysterious shrimp-like creatures from 525 million years ago have been identified as the first to exhibit collective behaviour

Professor Stephen Hawking immortalised

One of the world's most famous physicists is to be immortalised in bronze near his office at Cambridge University

Jellyfish light show wins Nobel Prize

The development of a glowing protein now used widely in genetic engineering has won three scientists the £800,000 chemistry prize

BBC to pay £½m costs in IVF libel case

BBC abandons claim that a Panoroma investigation into the country’s top fertility doctor constituted 'responsible journalism'

Controversial doctor tops live-birth league

Clinics run by Mohamed Taranissi had the highest success rate in Britain in 2006, according to latest official figures

Gene link made to premature ejaculation

A study found men who climaxed too soon during intercourse had a version of a gene that controls the hormone serotonin

Plankton bloom can be seen from space

A plankton bloom covering a huge swath of the English and Bristol channels is being monitored by scientists

Leading geneticist says human evolution is over

Professor Steve Jones says evolution is grinding to a halt because of a shortage of older fathers in the West

Nobel Prize row as HIV scientist excluded

Two scientists were given Nobel Prizes for identifying HIV, but there were claims that work of a third was overlooked

'Lives at risk' in failure to fight ozone

A co-ordinated worldwide approach is needed to combat the threat to human health and food crops, the Royal Society says

Autism genes can add up to genius

Scientists have found that the genes thought to cause autism may also confer intellectual gifts on people without the condition

Asteroid blast may have thwarted life on Mars

A giant asteroid could have destroyed Mars’s chances of evolving into an Earth-like blue planet

The Grid powers up to save lives and seek the God particle