Science

Giant dinosaurs bigger than a double decker bus roamed the Isle of Skye 170 million years ago, say scientists. Dozens of footprints belonging to early sauropods - the largest animals ever to walk the planet - have been unearthed in a lagoon on the remote Scottish hideaway. Others were made by the older theropod cousins of T Rex as herds splashed about in the muddy shallows off the north east coast. They were identified by their claws. The discovery adds...

Antarctica is shrinking because the sea floor is being eroded - by warm water. Global warming is causing vast swathes of the land underneath the frozen continent to be carried away - leading to structural instability in the great ice sheet. Now entire cliffs of ice that have stood for millions of years are breaking off and falling into the ocean, because the land they were built on has been subject to rapid erosion. Research by the UK Centre for...

Astronomers have captured an image of the most distant star ever seen - nine BILLION light years away. The star, named Icarus, is so far away that the light the boffins saw was twice as old as planet Earth. Experts at UC Berkely in California discovered the star thanks to a rare cosmic alignment, which provided a window of opportunity to view the star. The sighting was made possible due to a phenomenon called 'gravitational lensing', which allows far away...

Scientists have developed a skin-like material that can change colour - like a chameleon. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) discovered the novel product through a number of tests on an experimental material. Skin protects the body in a number of ways, including by rapidly stiffening in order to prevent injury. The new discovery revealed an elastic material that can tense like skin, with the added ability to change colour. In skin, a number of...

The famed theoretical physicist passed away peacefully at his home in Cambridge after a long battle with motor neurone disease

A white van man has paid tribute to the late Professor Stephen Hawking by drawing a picture of him on the back of his muddy flower delivery vehicle. Ricky Minns, 42, who goes by the name Ruddy Muddy, spruces up vans in need of a wash by drawing works of art with his fingers. And after hearing of the death of one of the world's most famous physicists this morning (wed), it seemed only fitting that he was immortalised in...

A rare cancer-busting mineral which has only ever been found in space has been discovered growing on plants - in the UK. The mineral, called vaterite, has so far only been traced on a few sea creatures, rocks and meteorites from outer space. But it has now appeared on alpine plants - part of a collection called European Saxifraga - at Cambridge's Botanic Garden. The incredible discovery could be groundbreaking for cancer sufferers as the substance has special properties that...

Spectacular scene in Kent, "like the armageddon" wildlife enthusiast said

Space hero Tim Peake has been given another gong - the Freedom of the home city. The Army officer-turned spaceman collected the honour following his seven-month trip to the International Space Station, which launched in December 2015. The 45-year-old was given the Freedom of the City of Chichester, where he was born and went to school. He told a packed audience at the Chichester Festival Theatre that his upbringing in the city paved his pathway to space. Peake, the first...