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Three British researchers won a prize worth one million euros for outstanding contribution to European neuroscience

Tim Bliss, Graham Collingridge and Richard Morris revealed how strengthened connections between brain cells can store our memories. Our present understanding of memory is built on their work, which unpicked the mechanisms and molecules involved. This is the first time the Brain Prize has been won by an entirely UK team. It is awarded by a Danish charitable foundation and the 2016 winners were announced in London on Tuesday. Speaking to journalists at a media conference, Prof Morris explained it was the "chemistry of memory" that he and his colleagues had managed to illuminate."Before this team got going, we had some idea about particular areas of the brain that might be involved in memory… but what we didn't have was any real understanding of how it worked," explained the professor, who works at the University of Edinburgh. The "team" of three winners never worked together in the same laboratory, but they have collaborated over the years....

The British-led bid to break the world land speed record has been put back again, to 2017

The Bloodhound Super-Sonic Car was supposed to go racing later this year, to try to raise the current mark of 763mph (1,228km/h) to over 800mph. But the project does not yet have the funds needed to run the vehicle on its specially prepared track in South Africa. It is hoped the delay will enable more sponsorship deals to be sealed. "It's in the nature of land speed record attempts that they tend to be a bit hand-to-mouth," said Bloodhound director, Richard Noble. "But the good thing is that we have a steady stream of offers coming in. It's hard work to get them done, and they can always collapse. "What tends to happen is that the nearer you get to actually running, the whole thing turns. We've just got to get on with it," he told. The car itself is virtually complete. At 13m in length and weighing more than 7 tonnes, Bloodhound had its static debut in London last September.Its one major outstanding element is its rocket system. This...

A British woman become first to have a pancreas transplant

Sue York - who has had type-1 diabetes since she was seven - would shake uncontrollably and vomit when injecting herself with insulin. Ms York told Victoria Derbyshire programme the operation had "completely altered my life". Doctors said her life expectancy had now doubled.Ms York, 55, from Lincoln, told the programme that, following the operation, at Manchester Royal Infirmary, she felt "incredible" and full of energy. "No longer am I struggling to walk up a flight of stairs, getting breathless walking into the wind. No longer is my skin yellow or grey. No longer do I look constantly exhausted," she said. "I've had to get new glasses because my eyesight has improved and feeling has returned to areas on my feet where I'd begun to lose sensation." Ms York said her phobia had reached a critical point in 2012, when the DVLA had changed its regulations in relation to diabetic drivers, insisting they checked blood glucose level...

British astronaut Tim Peake asked school children to help with scientific experiments

He wants pupils to plant rocket seeds that have been in orbit with him, and compare their growth with rocket plants that have stayed on Earth. Mr Peake has outlined details of the project in a message from the space station which will be sent to schools. The study will help find ways to grow food in space which will be essential if humans travel to distant planets. In his message, the European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut explains that he will be sending more than a million seeds back to Earth in a month's time. "Conditions here on the International Space Station are quite different from on planet Earth, due to us being weightless here in orbit." In his hands are a bag of seeds which occasionally float away. Unperturbed, he gently pulls them back towards him and continues."This experiment will aim to see if microgravity can affect the growth mechanisms in seeds," he adds. The seeds will be distributed to up to 10,000 schools. Pupils will compare the gro...

An atomic-scale fingerprint could boost the security, according to British scientists

The tiny identity tags are essentially tiny imperfections in the building blocks of matter, making them virtually impossible to clone. They could be used as the basis of a robust system for authenticating hardware and software. Details of the work are published in the journal Scientific Reports. The researchers from the UK universities of Lancaster and Manchester built tiny, layered metallic structures in the lab and incorporated "design flaws" that were unique to the item. "And the interesting thing is that you can't clone them. To clone them, you'd effectively have to measure atom-by-atom. You just can't do it." The fingerprint structures were demonstrated at the nano-scale where the laws of quantum mechanics take over from the ones that predominate at larger scales. But the researchers say it is a proof of principle which could be integrated into existing chip manufacturing processes. "These could be used to authenticate any el...

British astronaut Tim Peake mission to the space station will generate an Apollo-like fervour

Tim Peake Mr Peake told that he is going to the orbiting lab primarily to do science, but that his priority will be to share his experiences. He believes his mission can inspire more young people to become interested in science and engineering. Mr Peake's six-month stint on the station begins in December when he leaves Earth on a Russian Soyuz rocket. The Union flag is going to be flown and worn in space againTim Peake, on being British "The legacy I hope is that this will inspire a new generation to look at science, to look at space, as an exciting career path, and to make choices that push them in that direction," he said. Friday saw him go in front of the media in his home country for the final time before his great adventure gets under way. He now heads to Moscow to complete final training, before then flying to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch. Not having fresh air for 6 months is what I'll miss mostTim Peak...