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The map that tells our GPS where we are in space has just become more precise. But first scientists had to work out how to map a galaxy that won't stay still.

Many earthquakes may be aftershocks of large quakes that occurred hundreds of years ago, say scientists.

Scientist removed for views on cannabis says government's advisory council is fatally flawed and should be independentThe government's drug advice body is 'fatally flawed' and should be reconstituted as an independent organisation along the lines of the Bank of England, according to former government drugs adviser David Nutt, who was sacked last week in a row over the classification of cannabis. Nutt said that if the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was not given more autonomy in future he would consider setting up an alternative committee to provide independent advice on drugs.'Unless this issue is resolved properly, you're going to have to have an independent group. I know several members of the council will join me if things aren't resolved next Tuesday,' he said. 'It's obvious the politicians are out of step, that the rest of the world has a more mature view about drugs than politicians.Next week the remaining members of the ACMD will meet the home secretary, Alan Joh

Climate change could be cancelled out in a staggeringly ambitious plan to plant the Sahara desert and Australian outback with treesSome talk of hoisting mirrors into space to reflect sunlight, while others want to cloud the high atmosphere with millions of tonnes of shiny sulphur dust. Now, scientists could have dreamed up the most ambitious geoengineering plan to deal with climate change yet: converting the parched Sahara desert to a lush forest. The scale of the ambition is matched only by the promised rewards - the scientists behind the plan say it could 'end global warming'.The scheme has been thought up by Leonard Ornstein, a cell biologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, together with Igor Aleinov and David Rind, climate modellers at Nasa. The trio have outlined their plan in a new paper published in the Journal of Climatic Change, and they modestly conclude it 'probably provides the best, near-term route to complete control of greenhouse gas induced global war

Scientist removed for views on cannabis says government's advisory council is fatally flawed and should be independentThe government's drug advice body is 'fatally flawed' and should be reconstituted as an independent organisation along the lines of the Bank of England, according to former government drugs adviser David Nutt, who was sacked last week in a row over the classification of cannabis. Nutt said that if the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was not given more autonomy in future he would consider setting up an alternative committee to provide independent advice on drugs.'Unless this issue is resolved properly, you're going to have to have an independent group. I know several members of the council will join me if things aren't resolved next Tuesday,' he said. 'It's obvious the politicians are out of step, that the rest of the world has a more mature view about drugs than politicians.Next week the remaining members of the ACMD will meet the home secretary, Alan Joh

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (IPS) - Scientists and activists say that but for the fact that the 'brinjal', also called 'eggplant' or 'aubergine', is native to India and a favourite on the table, the decision to allow commercial release of its genetically modified (GM) variety may have gone unremarked.

Climate change could be cancelled out in a staggeringly ambitious plan to plant the Sahara desert and Australian outback with treesSome talk of hoisting mirrors into space to reflect sunlight, while others want to cloud the high atmosphere with millions of tonnes of shiny sulphur dust. Now, scientists could have dreamed up the most ambitious geoengineering plan to deal with climate change yet: converting the parched Sahara desert to a lush forest. The scale of the ambition is matched only by the promised rewards - the scientists behind the plan say it could 'end global warming'.The scheme has been thought up by Leonard Ornstein, a cell biologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, together with Igor Aleinov and David Rind, climate modellers at Nasa. The trio have outlined their plan in a new paper published in the Journal of Climatic Change, and they modestly conclude it 'probably provides the best, near-term route to complete control of greenhouse gas induced global war

By flying planes with ice-penetrating radar over Antarctica, NASA scientists are able to piece together a picture of the vast mountains, valleys and rivers under the miles of Antarctic ice.

Scientists are working on bringing the idea of a space elevator out of the realm of science fiction and into reality.

Harvard materials scientists have come up with what they believe is a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass.