BBC Sci

Mars' atmosphere could have been rich in oxygen four billion years ago - well before Earth's air became augmented with the gas.

A rodent that never gets cancer could hold the key to preventing or treating malignant tumours, say scientists.

Dr Carolyn Porco describes how the Cassini spacecraft will photograph Earth from Saturn

High levels of a toxic radioactive isotope, strontium-90, have been found in groundwater at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator says.

Edinburgh marine biologists discover a deep-sea shark spawning ground on Scotland's only inshore coral reef.

The Cassini probe in orbit around Saturn is going to picture the ringed planet in a special photo that also includes a distant Earth.

Older male burying beetles work harder at parental care and mating than younger counterparts, a study suggests.

A hairy crab named after US actor David Hasselhoff hitched a ride on an ocean "super-highway" to colonise deep sea vents in the Atlantic.

The quality of a performance does not drive the amount of applause an audience gives, a study suggests.

What's going on with the weather, asks David Shukman

Where is the middle class growing around the world?

Two junior doctors develop giant 3D animations of human body parts to make medics' lectures more memorable.

Meteorologists and scientists meeting at the Met Office say the UK's damp summers could be caused by a warmer Atlantic Ocean.

The geometric shape of a room can be mapped using the echoes from a sound recorded by four microphones placed inside a room, research finds.

Europe's plans to explore Mars with a satellite in 2016 and a rover in 2018 take a big step forward with the signing of new industrial contracts.

Action is needed to fight a "quiet epidemic" of oesophageal cancer, which is on the rise in the UK, particularly in men, say cancer experts.

Meteorologists and scientists will meet at the Met Office to try to understand the UK's strange weather patterns.

The vivid hues astronomers use to bring the cosmos to life

Controllers sever all communications with Europe's billion-euro Herschel space telescope, formally bringing to a close the observation phase of the mission.

A China-based supercomputer has been ranked the world's fastest, offering nearly double the processing speeds of the US's most powerful system.