Tom Clarke , Science Editor

Scientists have discovered that Antarctica’s ice sheet is melting from below even though it can’t be seen from the surface. Researchers used satellite images to work out how the warming ocean waters were eroding the ice – and understand the environmental change. Our science editor Tom Clarke reports.

The mass slaughter of pilot whales in the inlets and beaches of the Faroe Islanders has been greeted with widespread outrage. But after befriending a group of Faroe Islands fishermen, filmmaker Mike Day gained unprecedented access to the  whale hunt on the remote islands – populated by the ancestors of Vikings. His feature length documentary,…

In the 1990s campaigns to tackle cot deaths were amazingly successful – reducing the tragedy of sudden infant deaths by 81 per cent in the UK. But since then the number of cases has remained constant at around 300 a year. Now scientists have identified a particular gene that could be a factor in some…

Shoppers across England who buy bottles or cans of drinks could soon be charged a surcharge which they’d get back once they return the containers. Full details of the scheme, announced by the Environment Secretary Michael Gove, will go out to consultation.  

It hasn’t been plain sailing this week for Theresa May’s Brexit negotiations, with a backlash building over fishing. Much to their annoyance, Britain’s fishermen learned this week they will have to wait until the end of 2020 to take back control of British waters. But on leaving the EU, British rights will extend up to…

This morning, Nigel Farage helped trawlers and campaigners dump a box of dead haddock into the River Thames. The protest was held on a boat outside Parliament by Brexiteers angry that a transition deal could see the UK subject to EU fishing rules long after Brexit. But not everyone agrees Britain should be allowed to…

Stephen Hawking, the celebrated cosmologist, has died. He was a pioneer of the study of black holes and the origins of the Universe, and despite an illness that made communication almost impossible, he shared his enthusiasm for his subject with the widest audience.

China’s parliament has rubber stamped an unprecedented move allowing President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely. The constitutional change tears down a system put in place to avoid any return to a Mao style autocratic dictatorship – and the authorities have already moved to suppress any signs of public dissent.

The Syrian government claims its military assault is intensifying in rebel-held eastern Ghouta, with regime forces surrounding two main towns in the embattled region, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus. Aid groups believe around 1000 people have been killed in the last three weeks of fighting.

What do we know about the nerve agents that could have been used in this attack and why are they so deadly?

Across the country, the extreme weather has been causing yet more chaos. In Cornwall, police urged drivers to stay at home after a seven year old girl was killed in an accident. The National Grid said there may not be enough gas to meet the demands of both domestic and industrial users, although it emphasised that…

The so-called ‘Beast from the East’ had much of the UK in its icy grasp this morning as overnight temperatures plummeted to minus 12 in some places. Large swathes of the country were affected by the snow, but it was the north that bore the brunt. The Met Office has issued a red weather warning…

At least four people have died in car crashes as heavy snow sweeps across the country. Forecasters are predicting up to 10 centimetres of snow for many places, with hundreds of schools closed down, trains disrupted and flights cancelled and flights disrupted. And there’s more snow on the way – plus for parts of the…

It appears that the drugs DO work. Scientists say that they have resolved one of the most hotly debated topics in medicine – whether anti-depressants are effective in treating depression. A huge study carried out over six years has found  that all 21 common anti-depressants are more effective than dummy pills. Doctors hope it will…

Ten thousand years ago, Britons would have been black, according to groundbreaking genome analysis. A team from London’s Natural History Museum carried out DNA tests on the Stone Age Cheddar Man, Britain’s oldest near-complete human skeleton. Scientists then used the data to complete a facial reconstruction – with surprising, for some, results.