We all love autumn don’t we? It’s that special time of year when the weather begins to get discernibly cooler and the nights noticeably longer. Autumn heralds the transition into the cold, dark and desolate winter months, and the natural world puts on a final flurry of amazing activity before slowing down until the warmer sunshine of spring returns. And the UK is no exception, boasting...

Some stars may travel across the Universe, perhaps with aliens in tow

The stillness of the night sky is deceiving. Because of the sheer vastness of space, stars appear unmoving like celestial fixtures. In actuality, though, they're zipping through the cosmos - some at ridiculously high speeds: thousands, and even tens of thousands of kilometres per second. That's roughly 100,000 times faster than the speediest train and 1,000 times faster than the fastest...

Sam Warburton: Wales have 'fantastic' World Cup chance

Wales are strong enough to bounce back from the loss of Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb and still challenge for the World Cup, says captain Sam Warburton. Full-back Halfpenny and scrum-half Webb, both 26, are out of the tournament with injury, replaced by Eli Walker and Mike Phillips respectively. Warburton says their absences are a blow, but not a fatal one. "We've still got an absolutely...

Tour of Britain: Elia Viviani wins stage three as Petr Vakoc crashes

Team Sky's Elia Viviani won his second stage of the Tour of Britain as Petr Vakoc crashed in stage three to hand the yellow jersey to Juan Jose Lobato. Italian Viviani, 26, won in a sprint finish in Kelso, Scotland, despite having no team-mates to lead him out. Viviani, a stage winner at this year's Giro d'Italia, had already taken the first stage of the one-week race. Czech Vakoc of...

US Open: Marin Cilic beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach semis

Defending US Open champion Marin Cilic withstood a rousing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fightback to win a fifth-set decider and reach the semi-finals in New York. Croatia's Cilic, 26, looked to be on course for a straightforward victory after taking the first two sets. But Frenchman Tsonga was rejuvenated after receiving treatment to his knee and levelled up against the ninth seed. Cilic, himself...

Brad Haddin: Australia wicketkeeper retires from Tests

Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has retired from Test cricket. Haddin, 37, who stopped playing one-day international matches earlier this year, lost his place to Peter Nevill during Australia's 3-2 Ashes defeat by England in July. He will also stop playing for his domestic state team New South Wales, but will continue in the Twenty20 Big Bash League for the Sydney Sixers. "I've enjoyed...

Premier League: Is the loan system being abused by clubs?

League spend during the summer transfer window, another statistic caught the eye from a club that was relatively prudent. Chelsea's net outlay amounted to £38m - the fourth-highest in the Premier League - but Nathaniel Chalobah's move to Napoli took the number of Blues players out on loan to 33. The club are not breaking any rules, and it is a pattern repeated across Europe, with...

James Taylor century helps England beat Australia in third ODI

James Taylor's maiden one-day international century helped England keep the series alive as they beat Australia by 93 runs at Old Trafford. Jason Roy made 63 before Taylor anchored the England innings with 101, adding 119 with captain Eoin Morgan (62) as they posted 300-8. After Aaron Finch fell for 53, Australia were bowled out for 207 in 44 overs as off-spinner Moeen Ali took 3-32 and leg-spinner...

Wayne Rooney made history by breaking Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time England goalscoring record in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland at Wembley. England captain Rooney equalled Charlton's tally of 49 with a penalty in the victory against San Marino on Saturday that ensured a place in France next summer. And he was on the spot again late on in Tuesday's match against the...

US Open: Serena Williams beats sister Venus to reach semi-finals

Serena Williams overcame her sister Venus at the US Open to move within two victories of her first calendar Grand Slam. The world number one held her nerve to win 6-2 1-6 6-3 and reach the semi-finals in New York. Serena, 33, will play unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci in the last four on Thursday. The American could become the first player to win all four majors in the same year since Steffi...

Pope Francis pops out of Vatican to buy new glasses

Pope Francis drew crowds for an unusual reason on Thursday - after slipping out of the Vatican to visit an optician. While the optician normally delivers new glasses to the Vatican, Pope Francis insisted on travelling to the shop in central Rome this time. Large crowds gathered outside the shop as he spent an hour inside, at the end of which he insisted on paying. Pope Francis has reportedly...

The 21-year-old building India's largest hotel network

One night, 18-year-old Ritesh Agarwal was locked out of his apartment in Delhi. It was an unfortunate minor incident that was to change his life. Forced to check into a hotel he found himself in a situation he had already experienced several times while travelling in India. "The receptionist was sleeping," he says. "Sockets did not work in the room, mattresses were torn apart, the bathroom...

Why does Gaelic make people so angry?

What's it called - Cumbernauld? OK, but what does it mean? The standard definition comes from the Gaelic "Comar nan Allt" - "the coming together of the waters". A 32ft Andy Scott sculpture of a woman framed by arcs of water even brings the meaning to life every day for drivers on the M80. Simple enough you might think, but how about putting the Gaelic on the signpost? Now that's a whole other...

Russia: Government mobile app to help alcoholics

The Russian government is trying to tackle the country's notoriously high alcoholism rate with the launch of a free mobile app. The app will provide information for "people battling addictions that are very hard to fight" in order to help them to stay clean, says Yevgeny Bryun, the health ministry's leading narcotics official. He tells the M24 news website that it will offer details...