BBC News: Science & Environment

11 February 2012 Last updated at 00:51 ET

Vega rocket set for maiden voyage

After more than 10 years of development work, Europe's new small satellite launcher is ready for its first flight.

Overfishing of EU fisheries is costing the European economy £2.7bn a year and 100,000 jobs, a report by a UK think-tank finds.

An earthquake fault zone in Mexico is imaged with unprecedented precision, thanks to improvements in Light Detection and Ranging - laser radar.

America and Asia 'will join up'

Researchers say most of the world's continents will merge somewhere over the Pacific "ring of fire" in 50-200 million years.
Threshold broken for tiny lasers

Researchers build efficient lasers just 100 billionths of a metre across that may be used to make faster computer chips in the future.
Russians claim Antarctic success
Rare Mars meteorite for science
Corals inflate to escape the sand BBC Nature
'Invader' drives ladybird decline
Whales 'stressed by ocean noise'
Skydiver planning 36km record bid

Filming the weather of Earth for a full orbit

How plants warn each other of danger Watch

Professor Iain Stewart shows how researchers have captured the process by which plants alert each other to potential threat.
Five killer whales 'sue' SeaWorld
Birds' paradise lost in Kashmir? Watch

Explore the Solar System Watch clips from BBC TV series including Wonders of the Solar System.

Into the wild

Orphaned bear cubs released in Greece BBC Nature
Feeling green

Does outdoor play help keep the doctor away?
Guardians of Eden Watch

Saving the mysterious Amazon tribes untouched by modern world
Ape vs machine

The primate who solves a memory test faster than you can blink BBC Nature
Skydiving quiz

Test yourself on the history of aerial adventure
Stellar image

Most detailed image to date of the Carina Nebula
Spying on spuds

How drones and satellites are catching farming cheats

Witness

The woman who won a landmark legal battle to conceive a child using her dead husband's sperm
The Forum Listen

Bridget Kendall presents a discussion show where prominent international thinkers debate ideas

Science In Action Listen
Russian scientists have reached the water of Lake Vostock in Antarctica, say reports
One Planet Listen
Millions of young people worldwide are unemployed - are we creating a lost generation?