Nearly 50 years since man first walked on the moon, the human race is once more pushing forward with attempts to land on the Earth’s satellite.

How the zebra got its stripes is not only a just-so story, but an object of scientific inquiry. New research suggests that stripes help zebras evade biting flies and the deadly diseases they carry.

The extravagant splendour of the animal kingdom is prompting scientists to rethink evolution, writes Ferris Jabr.

"Sea lions literally everywhere, you’ve to be careful not to step on them, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, sea turtles.”

The temperature gauge in the Go Bus reads 21°C at 5pm as we are driven from Dublin Airport down the quays and along the Liffey to pick up more passengers for the three and half hour drive to Cork.

In 1842, Queen Victoria visited London Zoo, where Jenny, a female orangutan, made an indelible impression on her, writes Richard Collins.

The beauty of Mandy Barker’s images sharply exposes the ugliness of the damage that plastic is doing to marine life, writes Ellie O’Byrne

The real meaning of the word amateur has nothing to do with qualifications or where your income comes from, writes Dick Warner. 

This week Dick Warner ponders over the paradoxical deciduous larch tree.

Colm O’Regan tackles adaptability in life this week.

“Before, before! You’re living in the past, Marge, quit living in the past!”

Daniel Dennett tells JP O’Malley that memes can supplement genes and have contributed arguably as much to the creation of human consciousness.

Irish presenter Liz Bonnin really does aim to go that bit deeper with her major new series on the Galapagos, writes Sarah Marshall

“Adapt or die.” These were the words of RTÉ’s director general Dee Forbes yesterday. She was announcing the sell-off of nine acres of the state broadcaster’s land and the culling of up to 300 jobs.

Autism genes may have been conserved during human evolution because they make us smarter, say scientists.

What we think of as the quintessential English cottage garden style — mixed herbaceous borders and some pomp and circumstance, and yes, by that we can infer a bit of Elgar and Victoria sponge) — the type of garden praised and replicated across Britain, and adhered to here by a certain type of Irish mindset and the open-garden brigade — is not so English at all.

YESTERDAY was a momentous day for so many of the more than 60,000 students who received their Junior Certificate results.

Charles Darwin once wrote: “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”.

Darwin posited that we evolved from a common ancestor in Africa, yet David R Begun points to fossil records showing that Europe is the centre of origin, writes Declan Burke.

A new species of giant tortoise has been identified in the Galapagos Islands.

Legendary folks from the 1800s will be joining up with our assassin’s for Syndicate in a massive bonus game mode.

Alexander von Humboldt was one of the scientists who defined our world. Dick Warner on a book that may help restore his well- deserved reputation as the father of environmentalism.

Bill Bailey talks Darwin’s adventures and rubber bishops with Richard Fitzpatrick

Monkeys, orangutans, gorillas… It wasn’t hard to spot the theme of Sunday night’s Spraoi parade through the streets of Waterford as the throngs lined the route for this year’s offering.

The Irishman was the first person to prove the dangers of greenhouse gases and the need for hygiene in medicine. As his life’s letters are published, Ailin Quinlan learns that Tyndall was a fearless ambassador for science

Eoin Edwards spends a weekend in Limerick in a Georgian delight and savours all No 1 Pery Square has to offer.

When the late American showman PT Barnum was asked to what did he owe his great success, he replied; “sure there’s a sucker born every second”.

Your guide to what's on the box on St Stephen's Day.

It’s official then. Not only is the female of the species more deadly than the male, but they are also smarter.

The Bible, Charles Darwin’s The Origin Of Species and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History Of Time have been named as the books which have had the greatest impact on the modern world.

Kerry recently won their 37th All Ireland Football Title against Donegal and deservingly so.

On Friday, Cork Culture night is going ahead all across the city and one of the best places to be is in University College Cork.

This week, Kehlan Kirwan from the Small Business Show looks at developing new strands in order to survive and learning new ways to grow your enterprise

Experiments by researchers revealed dogs exhibited jealous behaviour when their owner petted a stuffed dog.

A new species of a tiny, colourful bird has been found by Irish scientists in a small under-explored island chain in the tropics.

Scientists in Argentina have uncovered what could be the largest dinosaur found (Irish Examiner, May 21). Those scientists say it roamed the Earth more than 90m years ago.

I Frankenstein, an action fantasy thriller based on Kevin Grevioux’s graphic novel, hits the big screen next week. Mary Shelley’s nameless ‘fiend’ is now Adam Frankenstein, played by Aaron Eckhart.

Two people have pleaded guilty to sending “menacing” tweets to a feminist campaigner following her successful campaign to ensure a woman features on British banknotes.

Here’s an exclusive head-start for smartphone-wielding treasure hunters facing into a culture night adventure.

Vincent Browne is to be admired for his new programme Challenging God. After all no one has ever proved a god exists.

Dublin City Gallery: The Hugh Lane

Few have explored the remote volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago, an otherworldly landscape inhabited by the world’s largest tortoises and other fantastical creatures that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.