Pangea used to keep Earth warm like a blanket, and ever since it broke up the crust has been getting thinner
The loss of the supercontinent Pangea has been making the Earth cool quicker and form thinner crust.
A lost Ancient Greek city that was too big to see has just been discovered
Researchers mapped the city above and below ground without using a single shovel.
Orgasms are a currency we use to influence our partners – and they're more valuable to women
States of bliss lead to positive associations with sexual partners, which influence our behaviour towards them.
Forensic science to reveal sex of prehistoric cave artists
A mock cave was used to test how good forensic scientists are at identifying artists' sex from hand stencils.
Five ways the Arctic has been transformed this year
The Arctic Report Card 2016 shows that this year has set a slew of records in the Arctic.
An acid rainstorm lasting 100,000 years melted snowball Earth to let life emerge
The Marinoan glaciation lasted for millions of years and covered the Earth in ice from pole to pole.
Trump wants to scrap Nasa's Earth science research – polar bears, lions and reindeer could suffer
Nasa's Earth science research is looking vulnerable, and the species it monitors are looking worse.
The world's oldest breeding bird still a catch at 66 years old, and is caring for her 41st egg
Wisdom's latest egg is expected to hatch around February 2017.
Volunteers to be released from 180-day confined experiment in Chinese space capsule
The four volunteers have spent most of their time in the capsule growing vegetables.
Changeable weather on a giant exoplanet is observed for the first time
The hot gas giant planet HAT-P-7 b is a gas giant and could have enormous storm systems like Jupiter's.
Origin of a massive, mystery crater in East Antarctic discovered - and it's not a meteorite
If Antarctica melted entirely, the sea level would be about 58 metres higher than it is today.
How to find the best spot to see the Geminid meteor shower outdoors, or watch live online
Maximise your chances of seeing shooting stars outside or via live feeds from telescopes around the world.
Spider with uncanny resemblance to the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter is named after Godric Gryffindor
The spider was found in a forest in India and researchers were struck by how much it looked like the Sorting Hat.
Planet of the Apes? This is what a talking monkey would sound like (it's really creepy)
A monkey voice simulation says: 'Will you marry me?'
Avalanche in Tibet that killed 9 yak herders traced back to climate change
Historically stable parts of the Tibetan plateau are now starting to collapse.
John Glenn: Five things that defined the last American hero
John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, the oldest man in space and once ran for president.
Is there any way the Earth could survive when the Sun explodes in a few billion years?
A nearby star is showing what will happen when our Sun blows up at the end of its life cycle.
'Vampires' mutilated before burial in medieval Poland were just people with health problems
Three violent burials excavated in Poland linked with fear of vampires.
Crystal from outer space discovered in meteorite that crashed down in Siberia
The crystal-like mineral is thought to have formed when the meteorite collided with another object in space.
Hormonal clues to evolutionary puzzle – why do some women have more sex when at their least fertile?
Women on certain types of contraceptives and in more committed relationships tend to have more sex outside of oestrus.
Greenland's ice sheet once did a vanishing trick that lasted 280,000 years
In the Pleistocene period, small ice caps at the easternmost edges of the country were the only ones to survive.
A 500,000-year history of climate change in the US shows animals react in unpredictable ways
Some animals were vulnerable to historic climate change, while other populations actually increased.
World's largest turtle has found a permanent home off the coast of Mozambique
Leatherback turtles were all thought to be nomadic, but some of them have settled in the Mozambique Channel.
The world's polar bear population is on a knife edge – and set to fall by a third by 2050
As sea ice is lost due to climate change, polar bears will have nowhere to hunt and live.
Are the headlines true, that a chunk of polar ice the size of India just melted into the sea?
No, it's not true. But there are plenty of unusual things happening at the poles at the moment.
Antarctica is still reeling from rapid melting in the last ice age
Ice deep in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet records how quickly the continent warmed from 20,000 years ago.
Dinosaurs may have survived extinction events by having a huge range of body sizes
Size variations within a species or genus was very large, which may have made them more resilient to natural disasters.
Remains of 800,000-year-old Stone Age human meals reveal prehistoric eating habits
Palaeolithic humans ate a lot of fruit and veg, as evidence of fruit pips, nuts and seeds found in Israel show.
Waxing or shaving your pubic hair has been linked to much higher risks of getting an STI
Extreme or frequent grooming of pubic hair could make it easier for viruses and bacteria to enter the skin.
Mystery of 20 million years of missing fossils solved with five new species
An 'explosion' of evolutionary diversity occurred when four-legged animals took their first steps on land.
