A German scientist whose work led to a profound understanding of the vanishing ozone layer, clean car exhausts and rusting iron celebrates his 71st birthday today as the latest Nobel prize winner in the field of chemistry.

The first Malaysian man in space blasts off today with the approval of Islamic scholars.

Response, Dr Nick Gay: Great scientific advances - unlike these latest claims - open up whole new areas of knowledge.

Dinosaur hunters have uncovered what could be the oldest footprint of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex ever found.

A group of scientists will today challenge some of the claims made in the marketing of products ranging from sandwiches and yoghurt to health spas and healing crystals. In a report highlighting the use of loosely worded scientific-sounding language, they call for 11 companies to justify their selling techniques.

The Nobel prize for physics was awarded yesterday for a discovery that sparked a boom in the information age.

Plans to ban the creation of 'human-animal' embryos by mixing sperm and eggs from different species have been dropped by ministers in a rethink of fertility laws.

Leader: Sir Martin Evans's discovery of embryonic stem cells has given scientists the key to treating a range of genetic conditions. His research method may not be universally popular but winners should be hailed, and youngsters taught about the difference they make.

Swimming proved one of the few bright spots in genome pioneer Craig Venter's high school years. When he was drafted to serve in a frontline hospital, it was to offer him salvation, as he recounts in this second extract from his memoir.

A British scientist whose pioneering research led to the creation of legions of "knockout" mice that are genetically modified to develop human diseases was awarded a Nobel prize yesterday.

Scientists have made a breakthrough in the search for a cure for Huntington's disease. Hope for a future treatment has been raised by the discovery of a chemical that slows damage to the brain caused by the genetic disease.

The discovery that elephants fear bees could be used to aid crop protection in Africa.

How the biggest land animal on the planet runs from one of the smallest - suggesting African farmers could use bees to protect crops.

Researcher show thick-skinned African giants are afraid of a swarm's buzz, possibly from being stung as babies.

Three people jointly awarded 2007 prize for work in embryonic stem cell research.

Scottish police forces recorded a dramatic rise in drug-related deaths last year, prompting fears that substance abuse is spiralling out of control.

· More than 3,000 issued to British forces since 2004 · Study links injuries to number of shocks

When Craig Venter announced that he was going to unravel the human genome, it sparked one of the most bitterly contested races in the history of science. Here, in an extract from his new memoir, he describes the acrimonious sprint to the finish.

Team aims to finish job ancestors began by reaching south pole 100 years later.

Britain's worst nuclear accident, the Windscale fire in Cumbria, released twice as much radioactive debris as was previously thought.

Ben Goldacre: Huge numbers of bioactive compounds extracted from plants are used today in medical practice, including even common stuff like aspirin. There is little difference between herbal medicine and medicine in terms of what is used, only in how it is used.

Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.

Any day now Craig Venter - geneticist, yachtsman and Vietnam veteran - will announce that he has achieved one of the greatest feats in science: the creation of artificial life. He talks to Ed Pilkington.

A 72-year-old man is due to become the father of his own "grandchild" by acting as a sperm donor for his daughter-in-law. The case is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.