Zoologger: Squid snares prey using badly blurred vision
It's difficult to judge distance in the open ocean, but bigfin reef squid have evolved a solution: part of their visual field is completely out of focus
The history of medicine in 100,000 pictures
The Wellcome Library's stunning collection of images reveal centuries of our quest to understand the human body and its illnesses – and they're now free
Plastic injection protects mouse hearts after attack
Found by accident, an injectable material may vastly reduce damage from inflammation in a range of conditions including heart attack and multiple sclerosis
Billion-dollar call: Waiting for Rosetta to phone home
Tension is running high at mission control, where our reporter is waiting with scientists to find out if the world's first comet-lander can succeed
AD 536: The year that winter never ended
In the year 536 the sun dimmed and the world shivered, leading to famine, plague and the fall of empires. New clues point to an double-whammy apocalypse
Gigantic oddball virus triggers arthritis in mice
Proteins made by waterborne "mimiviruses" seem to trigger arthritis in mice – the first time the viral behemoth has been linked to a disease that humans get
Spare Africa the ravages of its native oil palm
Oil-palm cultivation has wrecked habitats in South-East Asia. We must avoid a rerun if the crop takes off in its native Africa, says Curtis Abraham
Devastating El Niño events to double this century
Extreme El Niño events that could kill tens of thousands of people will become twice as common because of climate change
Astrophile: Giant flashlight illuminates cosmic network
Light from the activity of a distant black hole provides a first glimpse of the web of gas and dark matter that underpins the universe
Hollow 'doughnut' rock appears in Mars rover's path
Spotted by NASA's Opportunity rover, the rock may have been flipped over when it was kicked into view, perhaps offering a taste of pristine Martian material
Laser makes ultra-light mirror out of tiny beads
Particles held together by light could be a first step towards putting mirrors in space big enough to see continents and forests on exoplanets
Seattle NFL stadium now wired for crowd-quakes
Seismologists have rigged up the Seattle Seahawks stadium to measure the shaking when the crowd goes wild during Sunday's clash with San Francisco 49ers
Obama promises to curb some of NSA's snooping power
The US president makes concessions to address fears that the NSA has gone too far in its spying on US citizens – but leaves many key areas unaddressed
Long-lost lake may have helped humans out of Africa
A 45,000-square-kilometre lake, which has long since dried up, was at the right place at the right time for key migrations in the history of our species
Record poaching pushes rhinos towards extinction
More than 1000 rhinos were poached in South Africa last year – at this rate deaths could soon outnumber births, threatening a population crash
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