Scientists have cured sickle cell anaemia in mice using stem cells produced without using embryos, in a procedure involving reprogramming skin cells from the mice

A pioneering technique using lasers could help to detect cancer early, researchers said yesterday

The overall success rate of fertility treatment has risen by 0.9%, according to the latest figures from the government's fertility regulator

Malfunctioning fuel gauges would be 'catastrophic' for shuttle in flight, says ESA after launch called off

Greenhouse gas emissions must be urgently cut, with reductions of at least 50% by 2050, climate scientists warn delegates at the Bali climate conference

Nasa officials call off space shuttle launch after investigating a technical fault in the craft's fuel gauges

Climate change could speed up the large-scale destruction of the Amazon rainforest and accelerate the 'point of no return', conservationists warn

Laser fusion Magnetic fusion has long been heralded as the future of renewable energy, but could it be lasers that hold the key? James Randerson looks into science's latest power saviour

Nasa's space shuttle Atlantis is due to blast off from Kennedy Space Centre this evening on a mission to deliver Europe's long-delayed science lab to the International Space Station

The government's chief scientific adviser has criticised the BBC's Today programme and the Daily Mail over what he called their 'campaigns' against GM food and the MMR vaccine. By James Randerson

Scientists have welcomed dogs into a select club of species capable of using abstract concepts

The Columbus laboratory, Europe’s main contribution to the International Space Station, is scheduled for launch on board the space shuttle Atlantis on Thursday evening at 1631 EST (2131 GMT). It is the product of 10 years' work and millions of euros invested in the lab itself and infrastructure on the ground

The shuttle has been given the all-clear for lift-off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 21.31 GMT on Thursday, carrying Europe's Columbus science lab to the International Space Station

If you want to live a long and healthy life it's more important to be fit than it is to be thin, according to a new study

Duncan Graham-Rowe: Did China really go to the moon? It took just a matter of hours before bloggers started noticing uncanny similarities between the first images sent back by China's flagship lunar probe Chang'e-1 recently, and those taken by Nasa two years ago

Obituary: Chemist whose research led to modern insecticides

A new report ranks the world’s port cities that are most exposed to coastal flooding, today and in the 2070s

Researchers have drawn up a list of coastal cities most at risk of catastrophic flooding by 2070 due to climate change - all but three are in developing countries

Marriage breakdown is not just a personal tragedy - it is also a disaster for the environment as a result of increased energy and resource use when couples decide to live apart

The UK watchdog is warning of the dangers to the health of mothers and babies from implanting more than one embryo

A clinical trial has found that honey is more effective at soothing a sore throat than a common active ingredient in children's cough medicines

They are better than us at climbing trees, they have a more impressive bite and they would make a formidable opponent in a fight. But the brain is one area where humans have come to regard themselves as superior to the great apes.

Epic tales of derring-do and survival against the odds are the basis of this year's Royal Institution Christmas science lectures, to be delivered by the intensive care doctor, skydiver and occasional mountaineer, Dr Hugh Montgomery

Lucy Atkins: Shock news from the world of dietary research: raw-food fanatics may not be so deranged after all. Research has emerged showing a direct link between a chemical called acrylamide and womb and ovarian cancer in women. Acrylamide is produced when we roast, fry or bake our food