BBC News

BBC News - Science & Environment

Planning change to make installing heat pump easier for millions

Wed, 28 May 2025 23:11:12 GMT

The rule requiring planning permission if a heat pump is within 1m of a neighbours property has been removed.

Environmental rules reviewed for small housebuilders

Wed, 28 May 2025 11:24:58 GMT

Ministers are considering how costs can be reduced for small firms to help them build more homes.

Glacier collapse buries most of Swiss village

Wed, 28 May 2025 18:06:38 GMT

Many homes in Blatten have been flattened after a large chunk of the Birch glacier fell on to the village.

UK proposes wider ban on destructive ocean bottom trawling

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:42:18 GMT

The government wants to prohibit bottom trawling from more protected areas of UK waters.

Three years left to limit warming to 1.5C, leading scientists warn

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:04:28 GMT

The Earth could be doomed to breach a key climate target in as little as three years, scientists warn.

Huge Roman 'jigsaw' reveals 2,000-year-old wall paintings

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 05:23:43 GMT

Thousands of fragments of plaster are pieced together to reveal frescos from a Roman London villa.

Rocket launch challenges Elon Musk's space dominance

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:12:27 GMT

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's space company blasts its first rocket into orbit in a challenge to Elon Musk.

Work begins to create artificial human DNA from scratch

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:09:45 GMT

Scientists start a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life, in what is thought to be a world first.

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 16:00:00 GMT

The science behind US attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Ship footage captures sound of Titan sub imploding

Thu, 22 May 2025 21:58:22 GMT

Support ship video shows the wife of Oceangate CEO Stockton Rush hearing the sound of the implosion.

What are the risks of bombing Iran's nuclear sites?

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 09:49:16 GMT

Destroying Iran's stores of enriched uranium would bring danger for people nearby but not trigger another Chernobyl.

Dog-sized dinosaur that ran around feet of giants discovered

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 23:14:05 GMT

The dinosaur was mislabelled and misunderstood - but scientists now realise how special it is.

Why scientists are counting tiny marine creatures, from Space

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 01:59:32 GMT

Differences in seawater colour could reveal how tiny Antarctic creatures are faring in a warming world.

India sends its first astronaut into space in 41 years

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:38:38 GMT

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has become only the second Indian to travel to space.

The truth about life on other planets - and what it means for humans

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:11:47 GMT

Could discoveries of alien life ever change the human psyche in how we view ourselves and each other?

How China made electric vehicles mainstream

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 23:17:26 GMT

The world's second largest economy is both the biggest producer and buyer of EVs.

Watch: Loose pigeons cause havoc on plane before take-off

Wed, 28 May 2025 01:48:09 GMT

A US flight was delayed after two birds ended up onboard the aircraft, baffling both passengers and crew.

'Our homes were taken for a road that was never built'

Wed, 28 May 2025 01:41:45 GMT

Three families speak of the "utter hell" of losing their homes to a road scheme that was cancelled.

Astronauts Butch and Suni finally back on Earth

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:14:48 GMT

Dolphins circled their capsule after it landed off the coast of Florida.

This burger was made from cow cells in a lab. Should it really be served in restaurants?

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 23:02:55 GMT

Lab-grown beef, chicken and even quail are served in restaurants in some countries around the world - and now some cultivated meats could soon be sold in the UK too

New study on moons of Uranus raises chance of life

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:00:05 GMT

The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the sterile worlds scientists have long thought.

World's oldest boomerang doesn't actually come back

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 23:04:50 GMT

The 40,000-year-old boomerang was made with an astonishing level of skill and ingenuity, say scientists.

Three years left to limit warming to 1.5C, leading scientists warn

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:04:28 GMT

The Earth could be doomed to breach a key climate target in as little as three years, scientists warn.

A third of Pacific island nation applies for Australian climate change visa

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 06:49:31 GMT

More than 4,000 Tuvalu citizens have entered the ballot for a world-first climate visa to Australia.

Soviet-era spacecraft 'likely' to have re-entered Earth's atmosphere

Sat, 10 May 2025 15:32:19 GMT

The spacecraft, which launched in 1972 on a mission to Venus, circled Earth for over five decades.

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Inside Science heads to the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice, France.

Future of space travel: Could robots really replace human astronauts?

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 01:46:51 GMT

Advances in technology raise questions about the need to send people to space - and the risks and cost

Battle begins over new homes approved in historic village without sewage capacity

Tue, 27 May 2025 05:07:08 GMT

Charity launches legal challenge as it says problem of over-capacity sewage works near new homes is "rife".

Huge Roman 'jigsaw' reveals 2,000-year-old wall paintings

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 05:23:43 GMT

Thousands of fragments of plaster are pieced together to reveal frescos from a Roman London villa.

First celestial image unveiled from revolutionary telescope

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:35:11 GMT

The telescope should detect killer asteroids and may even find the ninth planet in our solar system.

Just Stop Oil was policed to extinction - now the movement has gone deeper underground

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 23:06:26 GMT

Climate activists may be going deeper underground.

How unusual is this UK heat and is climate change to blame?

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 14:13:07 GMT

Scientists are clear that global warming is making heatwaves like this hotter and more likely.

Planes are having their GPS hacked. Could new clocks keep them safe?

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:39:34 GMT

How a new atomic clock might be the way to tackle attacks on plane GPS systems

The truth about life on other planets - and what it means for humans

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:11:47 GMT

Could discoveries of alien life ever change the human psyche in how we view ourselves and each other?

SpaceX Starship test fails after Texas launch

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 02:27:56 GMT

Officials at Elon Musk's company said the upper stage was lost, minutes after it launched.

The people who think AI might become conscious

Mon, 26 May 2025 00:38:27 GMT

With a leap in the evolution of large language models, some leading thinkers are questioning whether AI might become sentient

Oceans cannot become 'wild west', warns UN chief

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:03:30 GMT

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke at the start of the UN Oceans Conference in Nice, France.

Cats distinguish owner's smell from stranger's, study finds

Wed, 28 May 2025 18:11:19 GMT

Scientists believe cats can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar humans using smell alone.

Will this woman be the first Briton to walk on the Moon?

Wed, 14 May 2025 05:01:51 GMT

The BBC meets astronaut Rosemary Coogan who is training at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 16:00:00 GMT

We investigate the role our forests are playing in offsetting carbon emissions.

'Forever chemical' found in all but one of tested UK rivers

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 23:33:52 GMT

The long-term impact of the chemical on human health is still unclear and being researched.

This burger was made from cow cells in a lab. Should it really be served in restaurants?

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 23:02:55 GMT

Lab-grown beef, chicken and even quail are served in restaurants in some countries around the world - and now some cultivated meats could soon be sold in the UK too

Solving the mystery of a dinosaur mass grave at the 'River of Death'

Mon, 19 May 2025 05:06:24 GMT

A group of researchers have come to Pipestone Creek in Canada to figure out why thousands of dinosaurs are buried here.

Killer whales make kelp tools to 'massage' each other

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:02:28 GMT

Orcas have been filmed using kelp as a tool to massage each other

More people buying electric cars and heat pumps than ever before

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 01:34:45 GMT

But the Climate Change Committee warns there's still a long way to go for the UK to reach net zero by 2050.

Most new build homes must have solar panels - Miliband

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 08:26:07 GMT

The energy secretary says the move will cut energy bills, but house builders caution against burdensome regulations.

Plastic bag bans and fees curb US shoreline litter, study suggests

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:01:05 GMT

Shoreline litter data research shows policies caused a relative decrease in the percentage of plastic bags.

UK's muddy saltmarshes vital to tackle climate change, report finds

Fri, 30 May 2025 06:10:22 GMT

The UK's saltmarshes lock away climate-warming greenhouse gases in layers of mud, a new report from WWF says.

Shoots of hope for Britain's cherished ash trees

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 18:17:30 GMT

Scientific evidence suggests ash trees are ‘fighting back’ against a deadly disease.

Asteroid contains building blocks of life, say scientists

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:07:12 GMT

Bennu contains minerals and thousands of organic molecules, including the chemical components that make up DNA.

England needs more hosepipe bans and smart water meters - watchdog

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 04:57:40 GMT

The Environment Agency warns England needs a 'continued and sustained effort' to cut water demand.

BBC Inside Science

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:00:00 GMT

The government sets out spending plans on five years of science. Where will the money go?

Warning over 'dirty secret' of toxic chemicals on farmers' fields

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:29:37 GMT

Campaigners say that farmers' fields are being contaminated by chemicals and microplastics in sewage sludge.

William warns ocean life 'diminishing before our eyes'

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 10:48:17 GMT

The Prince of Wales gave a speech in Monaco hoping to drive investments to protect the world's oceans.