Science

Humans are naturally able to understand many of the signs – or gestures – that wild chimpanzees and bonobos use to communicate with one another, new research suggests. Scientists from the University of St Andrews, who study communication in chimps and bonobos, tested people’s ability to translate the animals gestures in a video playback experiment.

The Louisiana coastal wetlands are being washed away, leaving the region more vulnerable to hurricanes and flooding. Now, restaurants in New Orleans are recycling their oyster shells so they can be used to build sea walls. For more positive stories listen to the People Fixing the World podcast. A video by Anna Adams and Richard

A PhD student looking into what scientists regard as the most important space rock ever to be recovered in the UK has said: “It’s pretty exciting”. Niamh Topping, 23, is in her first year at the University of Leicester, studying water and rock reactions in the early solar system. The Winchcombe meteorite crashed on the

In 1971, marine biologist Edward Carpenter made a shocking discovery, finding small bits of plastics floating thousands of miles off the east coast of America, in the Atlantic Ocean. More than 50 years later he tells the story of how he had to fight hard to get the scientific world to take notice of his

Rather than buying a Christmas tree, could renting one instead help make festive celebrations better for the environment? One small business in East Lothian, run by a 14-year-old boy and his dad, hire trees to local customers and then replants them in early January. The trees have their own unique names, with families welcoming the

Nasa has released video footage of a spacewalk at the International Space Station. American astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio were tasked with installing two new solar arrays – a collection of solar panels – in an operation that took seven hours. The array was delivered by Space X’s Dragon cargo craft on 27 November

An 18-year-old silverback gorilla is settling into his new home at ZSL London Zoo. Kiburi is a critically endangered western lowland who weighs 193kg. He was transported from Zoo Loro Parque in Tenerife to London’s Heathrow Airport, before arriving at his new enclosure in the Gorilla Kingdom. He was moved as part of an international

In the Indian megacity of Mumbai there’s an urban forest four times the size of New York’s Central Park. It’s home to a community of indigenous people who live alongside leopards. The land is prime real estate and over recent decades chunks have been converted. Now the government is going ahead with a controversial plan

Nasa’s most powerful rocket ever has launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first attempted launch in August was called off due to technical concerns. The same thing happened for a second attempt at the start of September. Third time lucky. Artemis I is part of Nasa’s plan to eventually return humans to

The United Nations Secretary General sparked a few moments of laughter at COP27 when he started to read from the wrong speech. His staff quickly brought him the correct papers and he explained he was meeting a group of young delegates later in the day and that that speech was for that event.

Scientists say climate change is making more than half of all infectious diseases worse; and the World Health Organisation says humanity needs to “get ready” to fight against this threat to global health security. As the planet warms, new viruses are emerging and pandemics are becoming more likely as animals and disease-carrying mosquitoes move to

The UK’s former prime minister says he is at the COP27 climate summit in a “supportive role” to the current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Boris Johnson was asked whether he was worried when Mr Sunak initially said he wouldn’t be attending the conference in Egypt due to preparations for the UK government’s Budget on 17

Just saying no to fossil fuels isn’t working, says climate expert Prof Myles Allen. Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Prof Allen used a lump of coal to explain how burning fossil carbon will result in one degree of global warming. It was the first time a prop has been used on the programme. He

For years the question of what to do with old fishing nets was a real headache. Fishermen sometimes dumped them at sea, or they were brought to shore and discarded in landfill. Now thanks to a scheme organised by Keep Britain Tidy, old trawling nets are for the first time being recycled here in the

An uncrewed Blue Origin mission came to an abrupt end when the capsule’s emergency escape system was triggered by a failure on its booster rocket. The capsule was carrying a payload of research items and returned to Earth, though the New Shepherd rocket “impacted the ground” according to the company. The Federal Aviation Administration, which

Throughout August, wildfires raged across parts of China, triggered by a record long heatwave and drought. Thousands of firefighters were mobilised across the country. Around the south-western city of Chongqing, which was one of the worst-hit areas, local off-road motorcyclists joined the effort, transporting emergency workers and essential supplies to areas that were otherwise hard