Big unknowns: is our universe infinite?

Scientists often talk about the importance of flora and fauna to the health of our planet, but Dr Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biologist and founder of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, wants us to consider another force: fungi. Her work charting the planet’s vital underground systems has…

Men’s average testosterone levels have halved over the past 50 years, according to scientists who say society is facing a male fertility crisis. Rising levels of obesity and diabetes are expected to play a part, but the team behind the work suggest that environmental factors such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals –…

In the last 50 years, Britain has lost an astonishing 73 million wild birds from its landscape, according to the British Trust for Ornithology. Habitat loss, pesticides, disease, cats and the climate crisis mean there are fewer birds than ever before. For children and young people it can be difficult…

Researchers claim they are closer to creating life from nothing after building tiny, quivering blobs that use lab-made DNA to feed, grow and multiply in a dish. To find out how significant this step is, and where scientists hope it will lead, Madeleine Finlay hears from co-host Ian Sample and…

The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington DC has hardly been out of the news since April when President Trump vowed to have it renovated, and painted ‘American flag blue’ by 4 July. Despite the pool being stripped, cleaned, coated and refilled, within days the algae that has plagued it…