By Claire Marshall BBC Environment & Rural Affairs Correspondent Amazon fires A record number of activists working to protect the environment and land rights were murdered last year, according to a report by a campaign group. 227 people were killed in 2020, the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year, the report from Global […]
By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent Astronomers have captured some of the most detailed images ever seen of galaxies in deep space. They are in much higher definition than normal and reveal the inner workings of galaxies in unprecedented detail. Many of the images could yield insights into the role of black holes in star and […]
COP26 The world’s largest ever report into climate change will be published later, setting out the stark reality of the state of the planet. The study is by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – a UN group that looked at more than 14,000 scientific papers. It will be the most up-to-date assessment of how global […]
Barrier-breaking female aviator Wally Funk has become the oldest-ever person to fly in space. The 82-year-old blasted into space alongside the billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, and an 18-year-old student. “I didn’t think I’d ever get to go up,” said Ms Funk, who has spent the past six decades trying to reach space. […]
By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website Billionaire Jeff Bezos has made a short journey to space, in the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard. He was accompanied by Mark Bezos, his brother, Wally Funk, an 82-year-old pioneer of the space race, and an 18-year-old student. They travelled in a capsule […]
By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent Chinese researchers have unveiled an ancient skull that could belong to a completely new species of human. The team has claimed it is our closest evolutionary relative among known species of ancient human, such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus. Nicknamed “Dragon Man”, the specimen represents a human group that lived in […]
By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent China has launched three astronauts into orbit to begin occupation of the country’s new space station. The three men – Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo – are to spend three months aboard the Tianhe module some 380km (236 miles) above the Earth. It will be China’s longest […]
Jonathan Amos Science correspondent @BBCAmoson Twitter Nature often takes us by surprise. Its power is all too frequently underestimated, with catastrophic consequences. So it was with the Chamoli disaster back in February, when the flank of a Himalayan mountain failed and fell into the valley below. It set in train a cascade of debris that claimed over […]
By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space plane has conducted the first of three key test flights that should enable it to enter commercial service. The Unity vehicle, with pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow at the controls, powered to a height of 89km (55 miles), and then glided back […]
