The Carbon Trust and Siemens are to provide finance worth up to £550m over the next three years for UK businesses wishing to invest in green equipment.

Software group Microsoft has confirmed rumours that it is to acquire Skype, an internet communications company, for $8.5bn (£5.2bn) in cash from an investor group led by Silver Lake.

A team of scientists and engineers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville is conducting research that could one day save humanity from asteroids threatening Earth.

Boeing has installed a high-energy chemical laser aboard a C-130 Hercules aircraft as part of the Advanced Tactical Laser Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program

Microalgal bioreactor systems could be built next to industrial chimney flues to take out carbon dioxide (CO2) and heat to produce bio-oils and nutritional products.