US oil industry and green lobby together brought down Keystone
President Obama cancelled it, but the Keystone XL pipeline may have been doomed by the US oil industry itself, as much as the environmental movement
Glitziest science prize hands out $21m to 1300 top researchers
Seven prizes, each worth $3 million, were awarded to the leading lights of fundamental physics, mathematics and life sciences at the Breakthrough Prize last night
3D print extra bits for old objects to help extend their life
New printing systems create additions that can augment and repair things we already own
Hot Jupiters may have formed through planetary billiards
The first exoplanets found were gas giants orbiting close to their stars – a study suggests they could be built from collisions of several smaller planets
Venomous pseudoscorpions use huge pincers to hitchhike on bats
A small type of arachnid struggles to get from A to B – so it hitches a ride on board bats instead, using its large pincers to hold on
Gut bacteria may affect the success of cancer treatments
Bacteria in the gut have been shown to help or hinder cancer treatments in mice – diet changes or probiotics could be used to improve therapies
NASA probe shows how solar burps may have stripped Mars of water
The MAVEN orbiter is trying to figure out why the Red Planet lost all its water – and a massive solar flare in March could help
Gene editing saves girl dying from leukaemia in world first
A one-year-old girl is in remission after receiving an experimental therapy that used genetically engineered T-cells from a donor to kill her cancer
Microscopic cage for light traps photons but lets fluids through
Tiny cages with nanowire bars could block light from entering or exiting, but allow other materials through – which might be useful for biomedicine
Death rates rising among middle-aged US citizens
Alcohol, drug addiction and financial anxiety are among factors to blame for an increase in death rates among white, non-Hispanic US people aged 45 to 54
