Why did dinosaurs go extinct but birds survived? Answer revealed - in eggs
Dinosaurs were lumbered with an evolutionary 'dead man's hand' that birds escaped.
Walruses spotted frolicking and playing catch with dead seabirds
The dead birds were turned into balls and used as toys by walruses.
Juggling triple expectations – why women face more stress at work than men
Caring responsibilities, sexism and tough economic times pile stress disproportionately on women.
Rare high-quality footage shows newly discovered deep-sea black smokers in amazing detail
Scientists are poring over the videos of the hydrothermal vents to see how many new species they can spot.
Here's what made conspiracy theorists come up with that WWII UFO theory about Antarctica
The answer involves dinosaurs, not Nazi flying saucers.
Bogoslof erupts: Volcano in the US blows its top five times in a week, and it isn't done yet
Bogoslof volcano is about 1,800m high but only the top 150m protrudes above the surface of the Bering Sea.
The pollutant ammonia has been detected 15km up in the atmosphere, but it may not be all bad
Ammonia is released at ground level by fertilisers – what is it doing in the upper troposphere?
The view from 2030: Many more mouths to feed but megacities will swallow the best farmland
Countries in Asia and Africa projected to be areas worst hit.
Cozy looking bat colonies are actually hotbeds of disputes about food and sex
Egyptian bats look cute but they never seem to stop squabbling over food, mating and who perches where.
Perverted Adélie penguins have penchant for large jellyfish gonads
It's not known whether Adélies snack on the gonads as a delicacy or are being driven to unusual food sources by a changing habitat.
Emotional hangovers are seen in the brain for the first time – here's why they affect how you feel
We don't forget emotional experiences in a hurry, and they change how we see events in the future.
Record hot year 2016 rounds off with North Pole soaring back up to 0C at Christmas
Santa may be sweltering at the Pole as temperatures soar 26C higher than he is used to.
Why did the dinosaur lose its teeth? To become a vegetarian
These ferocious baby dinosaurs' teeth all fell out as they turned into adults.
A climate change denier has just been put in charge of melting Arctic island of Svalbard
Per-Willy Amundsen has stated previously that he believes climate change to be a socialist ploy.
A beautiful pink and yellow Hawaiian fish has been named after Barack Obama
The fish was discovered in the poorly understood 'twilight zone' between shallow and deep waters.
Incredible rare footage reveals the underwater world where creatures live beneath the Antarctic sea ice
A robotic vehicle filmed some of the world's toughest animals and plants beneath the ice sheet.
Men faking orgasms and the clitoris vs vagina: What we discovered about sex this year
Why do people fake it, how does anatomy shape it and why do we have them at all?
Will 2017 be the year for climate deniers?
2017 will not be as hot as 2016, and some may interpret this as a sign that climate change is not real.
First live golden jackal seen in the countryside near Prague - and it looks like it's there to stay
A golden jackal has never been pictured alive before and living wild in the Czech Republic.
Weird-looking creatures plucked from the sea by Russian fisherman might make you sick
Some of the fantastically horrible-looking animals have defied identification as a known species so far.
Magma is rising underneath Naples' supervolcano Campi Flegrei – and is reaching critical pressure
The supervolcano is close to Naples, which has a population of 1 million people.
No more Mr Nice Chimpanzee? Chimps may not be as selfless as we thought
Scientists claim that previous observations of altruistic behaviour in primates resulted from flawed study designs.
Here's what the visible universe looks like – scientists produce map of 3 billion space objects
The most detailed map of the visible universe shows stars and galaxies from the Milky Way to distant quasars.
Rugged ocean floors identified as trigger of the world's largest earthquakes
'Megathrust earthquakes' occur when plates slip past each other quickly and can cause devastating damage.
Thousands of dead fish have washed up on a Cornish beach for a second time this month - and no one knows why
Mystery mass die off saw hundreds of thousands of mackerel and pilchard wash up on beach near St Michael's Mount.
163 elusive species have just been discovered, including a rainbow-headed snake and a very rare banana
A snake with an iridescent head – likened to Ziggy Stardust – is among one of many newly discovered species.
Myth busted: The pill doesn't kill your sex drive after all
The pill does not kill sexual desire, and 'We need to bust that myth' researchers say.
Mystery of what caused brightest flash in the universe solved – and it wasn't a supernova
The 'superflash' ASASSN-15lh was caused by a very rare event involving a supermassive black hole.
Huge, rare diamonds are born in pools of liquid metal deep below the Earth's surface
"Superdeep" diamonds form as far as 750km down into the Earth – that's more than the length of Florida.
Underwater volcanoes caught in the act of erupting in unprecedented detail
About 80% of the world's volcanic activity happens underwater - now scientists have caught an eruption in the act.
