BBC Inside Science

Scientists have shown for the first time that mice embryos can be made from non egg cells. They've succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by tricking sperm into believing they were fertilising normal eggs. Adam Rutherford talks to lead researcher Tony Perry from Bath University. Might it one day be possible to achieve a similar result in humans using cells that are not from eggs? The spaceship Gaia launched in 2013 to create the most accurate 3D map of the Milky Way ever. Yesterday, we got back Gaia's first data dump that contains mysteries yet unexplored, and new information on more than a billion stars. Gerry Gilmore from Cambridge University is the mission boss. What has Gaia has been up to in its first 1000 days in space? Many of us would love to go into space but, almost 60 years after the dawn of the space age, very few can afford it. But there might soon be a cheaper option. BBC Future Space Correspondent, Richard Hollingham, reports from Tucson, Arizona, where a balloon company is planning to fly tourists high into the stratosphere and also take on services provided by satellites - such as communications and weather forecasting - with 'stratolites'. Research suggests that women on average are less alert late at night, and are far more prone to insomnia than men. We're not sure why these differences exist, largely because women are underrepresented in sleep research. Diane Boivin from McGill University in Montreal discusses her new research that has specifically attempted to address this historical shortfall with surprising outcomes. Producer Adrian Washbourne.