In Tune

Medical research is ‘hindered by out-of-date laws’

Scientists say research into new medicines is being impaired by intellectual property laws that are no longer workable

Parents can reduce the danger

Several factors are now well known to raise the risk, and this has led to a substantial decline in the incidence of cot death

Research: brain chemical 'key to cot death'

Scientists discover the first direct evidence that an imbalance of serotonin in the brainstem can kill infant animals

Astronomy projects hit by £80m cuts

Cuts were announced by Science and Technology Facilities Council after controversy over which projects should face shortfall

100 years of SOS

It took the Titanic to show the need for a universal distress system

SOS: not Save Our Souls, Sailors, Ships or Skins

SOS is simply the shortest, simplest three-letter arrangement in Morse code: three dots, three dashes and three more dots

Cannon found in 16th-century wreck

Salvaged cannon is archaeological evidence of a revolution in weaponry that took place during the reign of Elizabeth I

Ruth Kelly wins fight to miss embryo Bill vote

Faced with the prospect of having to sack his Transport Secretary for defying the Labour whip Gordon Brown caved in

Bad karma for the short-lived chameleons

Chameleon that synchronises its death with others born at same time is officially the shortest-lived four-legged animal in the world

It 's not bug eat bug so who's a bee-killer?

The cause of billions of honey bees being wiped out remains a mystery after research disproved the theory that it was mites

Discovery helps to fight Crohn's disease

Number of genes linked to the bowel condition has been trebled by research that provides promising targets for better therapies

Big Chill turned on in hunt for our origins

Bunker under Lake Geneva will be coldest place on earth as giant particle accelerator is turned for a scientific experiment

Skeleton key to bodies under London's streets

Electronic map created in a collaboration between the Museum of London and The Times shows bones beneath city's streets

Siberia blast of 1,000 Hiroshimas revisited

Theories of aliens and asteroids swirl for huge explosion along Tunguska River in 1908 that lit up sky in Britain

Mammoth unearthed after walker spots bone

Archaeologists working at a secret location have found a tooth the size of a rugby ball as well as fragments of a back leg bone