Science: What Geeks are talking about from the BBC

Here is the latest Science News from the BBC.

Gravity mission passes ‘sanity check’
A European Space Agency effort to try to detect gravitational waves in space is not only technically feasible but compelling, a new report finds.

Global prize honours Cambodian activist
An activist’s undercover work to shed light on illegal logging in Cambodia’s forests has been recognised by the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.

France ‘committed’ to Hinkley Point
The French government is “completely committed” to building the UK’s Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, France’s economy minister tells the BBC.

VIDEO: Space station gets inflatable extension
An experimental inflatable module has been attached to the International Space Station remotely by a Nasa ground control team.

VIDEO: Repaired Solar Impulse flies again
The zero-fuel aircraft Solar Impulse is ready to resume its round-the-world challenge following repairs in Hawaii.

The Soviet space secret found by pupils
The English school that unearthed a Soviet space secret

E-skin ‘can monitor body’s oxygen level’
Scientists in Japan say they have developed ultra-thin electronic “skin” that can measure oxygen levels when stuck to the body.

UN picks wildlife poster winners
Poster competition to raise awareness about wildlife conservation gains 300 entries from around the world with winners coming from the UK, China and Africa.

Steel jobs ‘can be saved by tech’
The UK steel industry is doomed unless it embraces cutting-edge technology, a Cambridge professor warns.

VIDEO: How do Monarch butterflies navigate?
Scientists in the United States say they have solved one of nature’s great navigation mysteries, how Monarch butterflies migrate all the way from Canada to Mexico.

Butterfly migration mystery solved
Scientists solve the navigation mystery of one of nature’s most famous journeys – the migration of monarch butterflies from Canada to Mexico.

England’s only golden eagle feared dead
England’s only resident golden eagle is feared to have died, Lake District wildlife chiefs say.

Octopus makes great escape down drain
Inky the octopus squeezed his way out of a tank at New Zealand’s National Aquarium.

Moose on the loose as Alaska warms
Rising temperatures and longer summers have helped the iconic Alaskan moose conquer vast new stretches of the frozen tundra.

VIDEO: Schools plant seeds sent from space
Schools in the UK are to receive seeds that British astronaut Tim Peake has sent back from the International Space Station.

Bat-sound library tracks biodiversity
Scientists have put together the biggest known library of bat sounds in an effort to identify and conserve rare species in Mexico.

Space seeds on their way to schools
Thousands of schools in the UK will be receiving seeds that have been in space with British astronaut Tim Peake.

Implant lets paralysed man ‘play guitar’
In a world first, a quadriplegic man can once again move his own fingers after a chip was implanted in his brain.

Bed bugs’ thick skins beat insecticide
Bed bugs might be developing thicker “skins” to help them survive exposure to common insecticides.

Natural anti-flood scheme ‘a success’
A natural flood management scheme saved the North Yorkshire town of Pickering from floods at Christmas, a report says.

Bloodhound Diary: Planning for the roughest of rides
What’s it going to be like to drive at 1,000mph?

Runaway lion Sylvester given own pride
A South African lion, who escaped a national park, will be rehoused with two females rather than put down – and encouraged to become an alpha male.

Birds tracked on mammoth Sahara flight
A tracking study shows that a small, nocturnal songbird crosses the Sahara in a single 40-60 hour flight during its spring and autumn migrations.

Zika virus ‘scarier than thought’ – US
The Zika virus is “scarier” than first thought and its impact on the US could be greater than predicted, public health officials say.

Sea-level rise factors unravelled
Global sea-level rise since the 1970s has been predominantly driven by greenhouse gas emissions and not natural climate variability, a study suggests.

Hawking backs ‘starship’ project
Professor Stephen Hawking backs a project to send spaceships to another solar system within a generation

‘Superhero DNA’ keeps diseases at bay
Some people appear to be born with ‘superhero DNA’ that cancels out genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis, say researchers.

Planets stripped bare by host stars
Astronomers have defined a class of planet that have had their atmospheres stripped away by their host stars.

‘Longest-ever’ captured python dies
A python estimated to be 8m (26ft) long has died three days after being captured on the Malaysian island of Penang, officials say.

Major Tim ‘catches the Dragon’
UK astronaut Tim Peake successfully captures and berths the latest cargo ship to visit the International Space Station.

World tiger numbers show increase
The estimated number of wild tigers in the world has risen for the first time in more than a century, say conservationists.

VIDEO: Wild tiger numbers on the rise
The number of wild tigers has gone up for the first time in a century, according to new figures released by the World Wildlife Fund.

VIDEO: SpaceX lands rocket on ocean barge
The private space company SpaceX successfully lands a rocket on a barge floating off the Florida coast.

Inflatable room headed into space
The first inflatable habitat set to be occupied by astronauts will launch into space this evening.

Planet Nine’s profile fleshed out
Astrophysicists outline what Planet Nine might be like – if indeed it exists.

Baby wombat becomes tourism ambassador
An online competition to become the “chief wombat cuddler” of a baby wombat in Tasmania, has made the tiny marsupial something of a celebrity.

Tata windfall from carbon permits
Tata Steel made hundreds of millions of pounds selling carbon emissions permits given for free under a European Union emissions trading scheme, experts say.

Lab cooks up sugars from ‘comet ice’
Experiments show how ribose – an important sugar for life – can form when a simple icy mixture is hit by UV light.

‘Key piece of ageing puzzle’ identified
A common drug, lithium, could hold the key to long life, in flies at least, according to research.

Clue to Neanderthal breeding barrier
Incompatibilities in the DNA of Neanderthals and modern humans may have limited the extent of interbreeding between the two groups.

VIDEO: BBC reporter takes Antarctic dip
While reporting from the Antarctic, the BBC’s Victoria Gill takes a dip in the near-freezing sea.