Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through our Solar System – only the third ever spotted, though scientists suspect many more may slip past unnoticed.

During the height of the Cold War in the 1960s and 1970s, the USSR launched 29 spacecraft towards Venus, the planet scientists call Earth's "twin sister".

A bizarre reptile once scurried through the Triassic treetops with an extravagant crest on its back, one made from neither scale, nor bone, nor feather.