Science

An illustration of the Norse god Thor in a fishing boat (Credit: Getty Images)

The Viking word hidden in the Declaration of American Independence

From Roman freedom to Viking happiness, the iconic words in the Declaration of Independence reveal thousands of years of humans wrestling with how to live well together.

Two women walking along holding cold drinks, as one of them holds it to her forehead to cool down in the warm weather

The science connecting extreme weather to human activity

Tech Now explores 'attribution studies', a branch of climate science that proves extreme weather is not random.

Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park Wyoming

The abundant but expensive energy source that's under your feet

Start-ups are taking fresh approaches to geothermal energy, but will the economics work?

Why rescuing a stranded whale could do more harm than good

Help! Our 'record-breaking' rocket is lost in the North Sea

Australia confirms first case of H5N1 bird flu as virus reaches every continent

Simpler, older version of Stonehenge found 5km from famous site

watch

Great white shark swimming in the ocean followed by black and white fish

Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea

A volunteer diver has described shaking as he filmed his encounter with an endangered Great White shark between Tunisia and Sicily.

8 June 2026

Explore More

A split screen with Rich Preston on the left wearing a grey shirt, and a ship in the ocean on the right.

'Bingo! It's a match': Franklin expedition sailor's DNA links to BBC reporter

A solar eclipse seen from the dark side of the moon

Artemis II's historic lunar flyby... in 90 seconds

Earth's spectacular and remote 'capital' of lightning

Inventor reveals one-ball successor to viral bike

Fascinating reads

A collage of a woman smiling at a mirror, the reflection shows an older woman looking back at her (Credit: Serenity Strull/ BBC)

How defying ageism can help you live longer

Research shows a positive attitude towards ageing can make people feel younger and live longer.

International Space Station (ISS) in orbit (Credit: Nasa)

How to evacuate a doomed space station - quickly

Astronauts orbiting the Earth are drilled to deal with the worst possible scenarios. That includes having to leave their space station on short notice.

Panels and cables of the Large Hadron Collder at Cern (Credit: Alamy)

The ultra-cold temperatures needed for epic nuclear science

One of the world's most sophisticated scientific facilities is turning to jaw-droppingly low temperatures to try and unravel the secrets of the Universe.

Carlos Alcaraz jumps to return a ball with his tennis racket (Credit: Getty Images)

What are your chances of beating top tennis stars?

An unusual tennis competition that pits amateurs against professionals in one-point matches is launching at the Australian Open.

A footballer wearing a yellow jersey with a dark stripe, stretches to head a ball

The unseen damage from heading a ball in sport

Why sports stars who head the ball are much more likely to die of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.

A black-and-white image of Mercury partly in shadow captured by the Messenger spacecraft (Credit: Nasa)

The planet that shouldn't exist

Mercury has long baffled astronomers because it defies much of what we know about planet formation. A new space mission arriving in 2026 might solve the mystery.

More science

18 Jun 2026

Close-up of a southern elephant seal pup on a beach

Bird flu kills more than 75% of baby seals on remote Australian island, study finds

Scientists say 13,000 southern elephant seal pups on Heard Island have died of the H5N1 strain.

18 Jun 2026

14 Jun 2026

A black and white photo showing two male sailors dressed in black who are sitting on the deck of a ship while holding large, white, fossilised whale bones. Their caps carry the name "William Scoresby". The ship's wooden wheel can be seen to the right. Dock buildings can be seen in the background.

How forgotten voyages helped track El Nino

A century ago, research ship William Scoresby left Hull for pioneering work in the southern oceans.

14 Jun 2026

15 Jun 2026

NEW DELHI, INDIA - JUNE 7: People seen out on a hot day at Qutub Minar, on June 7, 2026 in New Delhi, India. The maximum temperature ranged between 40°C and 42°C, while humidity levels fluctuated from 24% to 53% throughout the day, forcing residents to endure intense sunshine and oppressive heat. (Photo by Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Delhi's temperature showed 43.5C. Why did it feel hotter?

We spent a day out in the city with a thermal camera, recording surface temperatures indoors and outdoors.

15 Jun 2026

11 Jun 2026

Two people look up at a starry night sky on the balconies at the Residencia in the Atacama Desert in Chile (Credit: Eso/ Luis Calu00e7ada/ Herbert Zodet)

This Bond film set is a hotel - but only for astronomers

Daniel Craig's James Bond battled a malign villain here. But Chile's futuristic Residencia is actually home to astronomers.

11 Jun 2026

10 Jun 2026

A humpback whale is seen just under the surface of blue ocean water in Mexico.

Whale graveyard dating back five million years discovered

The Indian Ocean site is "far beyond anything we had imagined", one researcher says.

10 Jun 2026

2 Jun 2026

Two Amazon mollies almost nose-to-nose in an aquarium (Credit: Manfred Schartl)

No males exist in this fish species. How has it survived for 100,000 years?

The Amazon molly has been puzzling scientists for nearly a century. New research is starting to unravel this mystery.

2 Jun 2026

11 Jun 2026

Two people walking across a road in heavy rain in Myanmar, with traffic in the background. They are holding umbrellas, as the rain bounces off the road crossing

El Niño under way and threatens weather extremes, scientists say

An El Niño event has officially started, say US scientists, raising fears of extreme weather and higher temperatures.

11 Jun 2026

Four days of extreme rain killed 7% of world's rarest orangutans, study says

Climate change-induced weather events are pushing orangutan populations to extinction, says a study.

11 Jun 2026

4 Jun 2026

Small mangrove trees sit spread out in clear shallow seawater, in the background is denser patches of mangrove forest. The sky is blue.

Mangrove forests are healing after decades of human destruction

Swampy mangrove forests are staging a surprise comeback - which is good news for coastal communities and the climate.

4 Jun 2026