Genetic studies rebut current warnings from health officials that alcohol causes breast tumours, and that even light drinking causes throat cancer

15 organ transplantation studies by researchers in China have been retracted due to concerns the work may have used organs from executed prisoners

Tiny magnetic coils can turn microplastics into carbon dioxide and water. The reaction could catch plastic in wastewater streams and stop it entering the ocean

Protections for saiga antelope, mako sharks and even woolly mammoths will be considered at a conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

Diamonds that formed twice as deep as normal contain evidence of a pristine hunk of original Earth rock hiding deep underground

A robotic exosuit cuts the energy required to walk and run, and could be used by firefighters or others who spend long periods of time on their feet

Immune cells may help painful gallstones grow by ejecting sticky nets of DNA around the crystals that form in bile – a finding that could lead to new treatments

The population of cave bears in Europe held steady for tens of thousands of years, then crashed after humans showed up – suggesting we helped wipe them out

The first woman to qualify as a surgeon in the UK, Louisa Aldrich-Blake also helped to establish hospitals for soldiers in the First World War

An analysis of hospital records has found that people with Lyme disease in hospitals in England and Wales tend to be white, female and relatively affluent

A low-carb diet cut the number of days people had migraines in half, possibly by forcing the brain to run on ketones instead of glucose

A lack of water in the air has resulted in a decline in growth rates in 59 per cent of global vegetated areas over the past twenty years

Microplastics have been found in the snow in remote areas, and they may have drifted in on the wind, raising questions about how much plastic we are inhaling

Neanderthals’ bony ear growths – similar to “surfer’s ear” in modern water-loving humans – suggest they spent lots of time foraging in aquatic environments

A few years ago we learned Jupiter’s core is much messier than expected. Now simulations suggest a huge collision with a planetary embryo could explain why

While killer bees terrorised the US, in Puerto Rico, an extraordinary accident of evolution has transformed them into a beacon of hope against the threat of insectogeddon

Studies that reduce human sexuality to two neat categories – gay and straight – are bad science and stoke societal prejudice, says neuroethologist Andrew Barron

There is no good evidence that our universe even had a beginning, a startling proposition that means the cosmos could collapse in about 100 billion years

We are all fitter for a good walk – and we become smarter just by standing up. In fact, says a new book, the act of walking helped humans colonise a whole planet

With a BBC micro:bit and a temperature sensor, you can make a device that tells you when your food is perfectly cooked

Interstellar dust has been found in Antarctic snow samples. The discovery could provide a way of mapping the clouds of dust Earth has passed through in space

The shale gas boom could be to blame for rising methane in the atmosphere. If the trend continues, it could put our climate goals in greater jeopardy

A component in cannabis called CBD is claimed to help everything from Alzheimers to anxiety. Despite a boom in sales, theres little evidence supporting the claims

The US Army wants to build smart missiles that will use AI to select their targets, raising concerns that the technology will be a form of lethal autonomous weapon

An expensive superfuel normally reserved for missiles and hypersonic jets can now be made from crop waste instead of fossil fuels - and more cheaply to boot

Perfectionism is a hidden epidemic, and its rise is damaging individuals and society. We investigate how to escape the cult of perfect

Parents shouldn’t worry about how much time teens are spending on social media as long as they are getting plenty of sleep and exercise and aren’t being bullied

A new way of sorting sperm could lead to products that couples could use at home to make them less likely to conceive a girl, scientists have warned

Fanatics who want no-deal Brexit and remainers who refuse to compromise are risking science and the UK’s future in the process, says Nobel prizewinning physicist Andre Geim

An analysis has found there is enough land in Europe to host 11.6 million wind turbines, with a capacity three times that of estimates made a decade ago

A drug trial has found two experimental drugs for Ebola to be so effective that scientists have stopped the trial early so that more people can receive these drugs

First ever clinical trial of chlamydia vaccine shows the drug is safe for women and triggers an immune response against the bacteria that causes the infection

An explosion at a Russian missile testing range led to local spikes in radiation, but it doesn’t seem to have spread to Europe as it did during the Chernobyl incident

AIs that spot abusive online content are up to twice as likely to identify tweets as offensive when by people who identify as African American

Digital cameras with built-in Wi-Fi let people quickly send images to other devices. But a vulnerability in the process could leave people’s cameras exposed

A technique that uses trees to spot minerals in the ground has had one of its first major successes, after a company struck gold in South Australia

We’ve long known that bacteria can evolve resistance to antibiotics but now it looks like other drugs, including ibuprofen, may help this resistance spread

Nutrients like omega-3 are claimed to support healthy brain function, but there is little good evidence that they really improve cognition

Astronomers were shocked to find the area around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way growing 75 times brighter in just two hours

At last, scientists have managed to grow, study and photograph a mysterious deep-sea microbe that could explain the evolutionary origin of our complex cells

To build nests, goliath frogs move heavy rocks to create little ponds in the middle of streams, which may explain how these frogs have evolved to be so enormous

Weird bursts of radio waves from space could be used to measure cosmic distances, which would help us learn about dark energy and the universe’s expansion

Chain catsharks and swell sharks have evolved a special way to glow-in-the-dark skin that is completely different from other biofluorescent marine animals

AI is going into law. It can now predict the outcomes of human rights cases and next year Estonia is planning to use the technology to moderate disputes in small claims courts

The National Health Service in England is setting up a research lab to build artificial intelligence that could help treat conditions including cancer, dementia and heart disease

Almost every plan for limiting warming to 2°C or less relies heavily on bioenergy, but the latest UN report says we don’t have enough land to spare

Contrary to recent reports, new research suggests the next reversal of Earth’s magnetic pole won’t happen in a human lifetime and could take tens of thousands of years

A blood test for a person’s specific breast cancer mutations – which is 100 times more sensitive than existing tests – seems to tell when treatment is working and when more is needed

A group of 39 previously unseen galaxies could be the ancestors of the massive galaxies we see in the universe today

Earth’s continents may have been shifting for 2.5 billion years, according to a study of ancient rocks that finds plate tectonics evolved far earlier than we thought