Elephants console those in distress

Asian elephants console other elephants who are in distress, using physical touches and vocalisations.

Bees demonstrate 'top down' attention

Bees playing video games show they actively choose what they want to pay attention to in a similar way to humans, rather than simply reacting to external stimuli.

Europeans have evolved lighter skin in past 5,000 years

Europeans have evolved lighter skin, eyes and hair in past 5,000 years.  The skin changes may be a result of the body’s need to produce more Vitamin D in lower-sunlight areas, although the other changes are harder to explain.

Gravitational waves from cosmic inflation detected

Astronomers say they have detected “ripples” in space and time caused by a process in which our universe expand­ed out of control during its first fleet­ing fraction of a second.

Scientists found and measured a key polarisation, or orientation, of the microwaves caused by gravitational waves, which are miniature ripples in the fabric of space.

Laser singles out an atom

Ultraviolet laser light has been used to pick apart a diamond atom by atom, a breakthrough that has implications for the development of quantum computers and other areas of diamond technologies.

Tiny tweezers made from bowtie of light

Researchers have built the world's smallest tweezers, capable of picking up a single virus or molecule.

'Life as we know it' unlikely on super Earths

For a rocky planet to be habitable it must be no bigger than Earth or its crushing atmosphere will be deadly to life.  The findings have dashed hopes that life as we know it can exist on super Earths — planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.  The gravity of super Earths causes the planets to have thick, crushing hydrogen atmospheres.

Songbirds give clues to babies' babble

Singing zebra finches could one day shed light on how some babies learn to talk faster and more accurately than others.