Is the UN about to recommend decriminalisation of all drugs?
A document apparently recommending that governments decriminalise all illegal drugs is under review at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Climate models may be wrong as fires cancel forest carbon sinks
Widely assumed to be huge carbon sinks, vast boreal forests are increasingly hit by fires so may be releasing carbon more quickly than they store it
Seabed superorganism uses electricity to lock up greenhouse gas
Collections of bacteria and archaea microbes literally wire up and exchange electrons to oxidise methane, preventing its release into the atmosphere
Slow typhoon Koppu to drop one metre of rain on the Philippines
A typhoon is crawling across the Philippines, slowed by another one just behind it, and is dumping torrential rain across the battered islands
Babies better than adults at knowing where they’re being touched
Cross an adult's legs and they have trouble saying which foot is being tickled. But young babies don't let body orientation confuse them
World Health Organization may approve first malaria vaccine
Experts advising the WHO are expected to recommend the use of the vaccine in some malaria-stricken countries
Icy plains and snakeskin terrain among Pluto’s lingering puzzles
The team behind NASA's New Horizons probe has just released their first official paper on Pluto's geology, atmosphere and moons – but big mysteries remain
Russia starts moon base collaboration with European Space Agency
The ESA has announced intentions to collaborate with Russia in making a settlement on the moon, modelled after the International Space Station
3D printed teeth to keep your mouth free of bacteria
A new plastic full of special salts that fight bacteria could be the stuff of dentures in the future
Carbon nanotubes found in children’s lungs for the first time
Nanotubes have turned up in the lungs of asthmatic children in Paris – although their source and their effects on health remain unclear
