The latest stories from the Science & Environment section of the BBC News web site.
Physicists explain one of football's most spectacular free-kicks, showing that Roberto Carlos's 1997 "impossible goal" was not a fluke.
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.
The collision of two major weather events can explain unusually large snowfall in the US and Northern Europe, researchers say.
An ancient reef may provide scientists with clues about what will happen to coral when sea temperatures rise.
Some 57,000 people have been forced from their homes because of dramatic floods in south-western Sudan over the past month, officials say.
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.
Areas along the US East Coast declare states of emergency as Hurricane Earl churns towards the region, forecast to brush land on Thursday night.
A further test ignition takes place on the giant booster intended to power Nasa's next big rocket.
An earthquake is recorded in the North Sea about 155 miles east of Aberdeen.
Europe's Herschel space telescope spies an aging star that has surrounded itself in hot water vapour.
The remains of a huge 12,000 year old feast have been found in a cave in Northern Israel.
There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe, Professor Stephen Hawking concludes in a new book.
Researchers map the nervous system of worms to try and understand how the human cerebral cortex evolved.
The theory that the great beasts living in North America 13,000 years ago were killed off by a space impact can now be discounted, a new study claims.
Fossils of a new type of dinosaur, which looks like a beefy version of the predatory Velociraptor, have been unearthed in Romania.
A Tasmanian Devil who experts hoped was immune to a facial cancer that threatens the marsupial species is euthanised after developing tumours.
The dinosaurs were wiped out by at least two space impacts rather than a single strike, say scientists.
Drinking a glass of milk can stop garlic breath, scientists discover.
A team of 86 global scientists sequence the genome of the Golden Delicious apple for the first time.
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.
The draft sequences of the wheat genome released by UK scientists may prove to be a vital contribution to the efforts of securing global food supply.
Plants are able to summon insects to their aid to avoid being eaten by caterpillars, scientists discover.