The latest stories from the Science & Environment section of the BBC News web site.
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Fast declines in some UK and European ladybirds are being caused by the spread of the invasive harlequin species, scientists show.
The "love song" of a 165-million-year-old insect is recreated from a tiny and remarkably intact fossil, say scientists.
Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian planning to sky dive from a record-breaking altitude, has announced he will make the attempt later this year.
US space agency officials let their European counterparts know that it is now highly unlikely that America will participate in joint missions to the Red Planet in 2016 and 2018.
Russian scientists are attempting to beat US and British rivals to be first to drill into an Antarctic sub-glacial lake.
China tells its airlines not to pay charges to the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, aimed at cutting carbon emissions.
The risk of birth defects increases four-fold if the pregnant mother has diabetes, a study of 400,000 pregnancies in England suggests.
Alberto Contador is handed a two-year ban for a doping offence - and is stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title.
More than 100 Conservatives are among MPs who have written to the prime minister calling on him to slash subsidies for onshore wind turbines.
Prince Charles says there are reasons to be optimistic about the state of the world's oceans, but it is "critically urgent" to tackle overfishing.
About 100 people gather in Enniskillen to demonstrate against the use of fracking to extract gas from shale rock in County Fermanagh.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit China next week to discuss Canada's oil products, after the US blocked a key pipeline.
An 83-year-old woman is fitted with a jaw made by a 3D printer in what doctors say is the first operation of its kind.
A clan chief is accusing the Scottish government and SNH of not listening to islanders' concerns about a conservation area.
Astronomers at the Paranal observatory combine four telescope to create the world's largest virtual device with a 130m-mirror.
The number of deaths worldwide from malaria has been underestimated, according to data published in the medical journal the Lancet.
A work of abstract expressionism by a chimp and a still life of a flower by an elephant are part of a new exhibition in London of artworks created by animals.
Abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts, according to scientists.
Winners of science photography contest dazzle
The German-UK consortium building the operational spacecraft for Europe's Galileo sat-nav system wins a contract to provide an additional eight units.
The Hubble space telescope captures an image of a "barred spiral" galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way.
Wrestling one of the UK's most invasive pests
Meadows of seagrass, a keystone species in marine ecosystems, found in the Mediterranean Sea are likely to be tens of thousands of years old, a study shows.
Research shows that primitive moss-like plants could have helped cool the Earth 470 million years ago, bringing on mini ice ages.
A huge crustacean called a supergiant - more than 30cm long - has been discovered 7km down in the waters north of New Zealand.