Author Bill Bryson says rural areas could be "lost forever" under new proposed boundaries for a South Down National Park.

A DNA survey aims to identify descendants of Britons who settled in Russia hundreds of years ago.

The number of wild birds killed illegally in the UK rise by more than 50% in 2006, the RSPB reveals.

Tributes pour in for the founder of the Body Shop, Dame Anita Roddick, who has died aged 64.

The European Union is abandoning plans to force Britain to phase out the imperial measurement system.

An analysis of the World Trade Center collapse challenges an oft-repeated conspiracy theory about 9/11.

Yawning may reveal more about a person than their boredom threshold, scientists say.

The eastern Pacific gray whale may not have recovered to its pre-hunting level, as has been believed.

Three new $1m awards for scientific endeavour are announced at the British Association festival in York.

Lord Robert Winston claims bureaucracy is forcing UK research, including some of his own, abroad to the US.

Web users are being enrolled in a scheme to scour Google Earth images for the missing adventurer.

Frailer heart patients could benefit from an advance in keyhole surgery carried out for the first time in the UK.

Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be gone by mid-century, a US government agency reports.

A 1,000-year-old Viking longship may have been discovered buried under a pub car park in Wirral.

The exotic creatures that inhabit deep-sea vents will not be immune to the effects of climate change, research claims.

Conservation groups alone cannot save endangered species, says Richard Leakey; we need to pay attention to humans' needs as well.

A Tory policy group proposes a stamp duty rebate for home-buyers who improve energy efficiency.

The mystery of how we read a sentence is unlocked by scientists.

3D scans of faces are set to speed up the diagnosis of rare genetic conditions, scientists say.

A lightweight solar-powered UK plane smashes the official world record for the longest duration unmanned flight.

Man's ability to digest starchy foods may explain our success on the planet, genetic work suggests.

Teams scouring the Nevada desert find no trace of US adventurer Steve Fossett but several other crashed planes.

Asia-Pacific leaders meeting in Sydney unveil an agreement on climate change, but no commitments.

Rabies could be eradicated from the world within a decade, according to Edinburgh University experts.