BBC News
Rewilding of former farmlands is increasing. What are the sustainability benefits?
Reaching "peak agricultural land" does not mean the problem of deforestation is solved. Growing demand for products like beef, soy, ...
Processed human sewage waste is sometimes used as cheap fertilizers. It’s potentially dangerous
About 3.5 million tonnes of sludge – the solid waste produced from human sewage at treatment plants - is put ...
Why do many women develop postnatal depression? Brain scans can now help us understand
Pregnancy brain really does exist, according to one of the first detailed maps of human-brain changes before, during and after ...
A quarter of the world’s population eats insects almost daily. What would it take for you to join in the feast?
Some two billion people, about a quarter of the world’s population, already eat insects as part of their everyday diet, ...
We know moms shouldn’t drink while pregnant. Now there’s evidence that drinking dads can damage children’s brain development too
For more than 50 years, scientists have warned about the risks of drinking alcohol in pregnancy. Recent research has found that ...
‘Revolutionary breakthrough’: Gene therapy could provide one-time treatment for blood disorder beta thalassemia
The first therapy that uses gene-editing is to be offered on the NHS in a “revolutionary breakthrough” for patients. It ...
What do you see when you imagine an apple or think of your best friend? Those with rare aphantasia can’t picture images in their heads
Most people can picture images in their heads - the look of an apple, the appearance of their kitchen or ...
Bird flu has spread to other animals. Gene-edited chickens could slow the scourge
Researchers have developed gene-edited chickens that are partially resistant to bird flu ...
An embryo was grown in lab without sperm, eggs or a womb. Here’s why scientists created it
Scientists have grown an entity that closely resembles an early human embryo, without using sperm, eggs or a womb ...
With a moon base expected by 2030, engineering space fuel is just one of many challenges scientists face
Scientists have developed an energy source which could allow astronauts to live on the Moon for long periods of time ...
98% of the human genome: We are finally beginning to understand the mystery of ‘dark matter’ junk DNA
Twenty years ago, an enormous scientific effort revealed that the human genome contains 20,000 protein-coding genes ...
‘It looks like you stuck your finger in an electric socket’: 10-year-old finds pride in ‘uncombable hair’ syndrome tied to genetic mutation
Most people have a bad hair day now and then - but Sam Barley celebrates his unique unruly locks every ...
‘Foreign accent syndrome’: How a cancer patient who never visited Ireland developed an ‘uncontrollable brogue’
A US man developed an "uncontrollable Irish accent" after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, despite having never visited Ireland, researchers ...
9’6”: Here is how genetics and Marfan syndrome created the world’s tallest man
When I heard rumours of a new contender for the world's tallest man in northern Ghana, I set out to ...
Newborn Genomes Program: Whole genome sequencing for 100,000 UK babies leads to test for 200 disorders
Rare genetic disorders will be diagnosed and treated in babies thanks to a project to sequence the complete DNA of ...
Preventing billions of rooster chick deaths annually: Here’s how gene editing could end the culling of male chickens
Dr Yuval Cinnamon from the Volcani institute near Tel Aviv, who is the project's chief scientist, told BBC News that ...
Universal mRNA-based vaccine targeting 20 types of flu is a real possibility
Scientists say they have made a breakthrough designing a vaccine against all 20 known types of flu ...
‘They were trolling her obituary’: Ant-vaxxers attack families of people who got COVID shots then died unexpectedly
"Seven days, 18 hours, 39 minutes ago my beloved... died suddenly of cardiac arrest". When Victoria Brownworth logged onto Twitter ...
Treatment-resistant triple-negative breast cancer disproportionately affects Black women. African genetic ancestry may explain why
Researchers in the US have found a genetic link between people with African ancestry and an aggressive type of breast ...
Immunity boost: Some people with ‘lucky genes’ may get an extra strong protection from COVID shots
Researchers analysed blood samples from people who took part in five different trials, including 1,600 adults who had either the ...
‘A frozen backstop in case of extinction’: Conservation scientists freezing threatened species in bio-banks to prepare for the worst
"He's gone," murmurs Chester Zoo vet Gabby Drake - holding a stethoscope to the feathered chest of a 28-year-old, bright ...
Growing cell-based meat in space? If humans travel intergallactic distances or colonize planets, this is how we might feed ourselves
Growing meat from cells - particularly at scale - even on Earth isn't easy. Aleph Farms is one of several ...
Infographic: Are genetically modified pigs the future of organ transplants?
So how close are we to using pigs for a limitless supply of organs to solve the global shortage? Using ...
Hundreds of dog breeds have disappeared over the centuries. Could — and should — we bring them back?
The World Canine Organization officially recognises around 370 different breeds, including the fashion-victim Chinese Crested, with its nude, greyish body ...
Carbon farming: Can growing interest in regenerative agriculture make a difference for climate change?
Farmlands cover half of the Earth's habitable land, and the global food system produces 21-37% of the world's greenhouse gas ...
A brief history of the revolutionary impact of psychedelic therapy
In the last 10 years, psychedelic drugs like LSD, magic mushrooms, DMT, a host of "plant medicines" – including ayahuasca, ...
6.3 billion tons of plastic: That’s how much waste we’ve generated. Fungus and bacteria might be part of the solution
Samantha Jenkins was studying a number of types of fungus in a research project for her company, when one of ...
Like almost everything with COVID, the scientific debate over the virus’s origins has become politically toxic
Scientists often disagree with each other - that is part of the scientific process... But the "lab leak v natural spillover" ...
