NHS gives go-ahead to experimental treatments for hundreds of patients who have failed to respond to conventional cures

Almost 800 terminally ill cancer patients already participate in clinical trials being run by 19 experimental cancer medicine centres

Across the country 800 terminally ill men and women have agreed to be human guinea pigs in a hunt for new cancer drugs

Ben Goldacre: Silly season is in full swing

Editorial: 'Primitive, uncivilized, loutish' is how the Oxford English Dictionary puts it

Miners unearth 2.5m-year-old mastodon, believed to be one of the best preserved in Europe

Justin Thacker: By linking Darwin so stridently with atheism, Richard Dawkins does public understanding of evolutionary theory a disservice

Ian Sample looks a report into the effectiveness of infertility treatments

Professor of gynaecology says treatments amount to an enormous and unjustified cost to the NHS

Genetic material shows division of species between Neanderthal and humans occurred 660,000 years ago

Obituary: Trailblazing therapist with a unique approach to sex offenders

Tom Clark: Expensive new drugs help pharmaceutical companies recoup their R&D costs. But what if the research was publicly funded?

Mark Lynas: Bob Watson rightly warns us to prepare for 4C global warming. To avoid that, we must make drastic CO2 cuts now

Egyptian scientists are to carry out DNA tests on two mummified foetuses found in the tomb of Tutankhamun

Experiments at the giant particle accelerator Cern remind us just how far science has come in recent years, says Tim Radford

The prime location for Perseid spotting is closer to home: your back garden

An experiment to harness the sea's energy could be helping to produce power within five years, according to its supporters, says Michael Pollitt

Obituary: Pioneer in the nuclear fusion technology intended to produce endless green energy

Pollen makes an ideal 'identity tag' for bullets, having evolved an extraordinary stickiness and resilience

Nintendo's Wii console is not just a toy - one US hospital is using it as a training tool for its surgical residents

Helen Pidd There's no evidence that injecting vitamin C is effective in treating human cancer

A study has found that labradors and other pet dogs were more likely to yawn if they witness humans performing the action

Between two national parks lies a corridor rich in wildlife - but also in fossil fuels. Will protection follow now that the gas extraction drillers want to move in? Jim Giles reports

A yawn is likely to set off pets as well as those around you, psychologists say