Best of BBC news

Discoveries of sophisticated intelligence in cetaceans raise new questions about how we relate to them - including whether we should hunt them.

A project which will see homes across Scotland scanned to show heat loss is unveiled as part of a new focus on housing policy.

A leading scientist says patents on synthetic life forms would give their creator a monopoly on a range of genetic engineering.

Unearthing Qatar's lost city from 125 years of sand

Emergency workers try to contain 2,000 tonnes of oil spilled when a tanker and a bulk carrier collided off Singapore.

Climate change will trigger a sudden decline in polar bears.

The US toughens its stance on BP, with one official pledging to "keep our boot on their neck" until the Gulf oil leak is stopped.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to join Silicon Valley venture capital firm Khosla Ventures as an adviser.

New images from Martian orbit appear to confirm Nasa's Phoenix lander broke apart during the Red Planet's winter.

The US shuttle and its crew heads back to Earth, wrapping up the craft's 32nd - and probably final - space voyage.

Will Salt Lake evaporation ponds harm waterfowl?

Extra university places and school support funds in England are to be cut in the drive to reduce public spending.

A wide range of activities take place across the UK to celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity.

Researchers show off a transistor made from just seven atoms that could be used to create smaller, more powerful computers.

The doctor who first suggested a link between MMR vaccinations and autism is to be struck off the medical register.

Getting children off waste heaps into education

A top US official says BP may be "pushed" aside if it fails to perform in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster clean-up.

The Hubble Space Telescope captures evidence of a Sun-like star "eating" an Earth-like planet, in the constellation Auriga.

Scientists are studying how ring-tailed lemurs from Madagascar use smell to choose the best mate.

Wildlife crime officers begin an operation to halt the "shocking" destruction of Scotland's freshwater pearl mussels.