BBC Focus Magazine - science and technology news, Q&As and features - Science Focus - BBC Focus Magazine

How safe are our Marine Protected Areas? (A marine debris team collects fishing nets that have been abandoned in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument © NOAA)

How safe are our Marine Protected Areas?

Air pollution is killing us, here’s how you can stop it – Gary Fuller

Why do triangular sandwiches taste better than rectangular ones?

16 of the best science books from 2018

Everyday science

16 of the best science books from 2018

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Science in 2019

Experts reveal the future technology and big science discoveries that will change our world next year.

Legal highs: could a psychedelic trip soon be available on prescription? © Getty Images

Could legal highs soon be available on prescription?

The changing face of our smart cities © Getty Images

The changing face of our smart cities

Science breakthroughs 2019 © Getty Images

Science breakthroughs 2019

Surprises are in store for the New Horizons’ fly by

Is a cancer vaccine on the horizon?

Space mining: the new goldrush

See more 2019 science

Latest science news

Dispatches from the cutting edge

Star Trek-inspired aeroplane powered by ‘Ionic wind’ takes flight © Christine Ye He/MIT/Nature

Star Trek-inspired aeroplane powered by ‘ionic wind’ takes flight

Ganymedem Jupiter’s moon shows signs of past tectonic activity © NASA

Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, shows signs of past tectonic activity

Lungs similar to those of some modern-day birds might have helped dinosaurs breathe the thin air of the prehistoric world © Chinese Academy of Sciences

Bird-like lungs helped dinosaurs rule the roost

Small doses of psychedelics might help you solve problems © Getty Images

Small doses of psychedelics might help you solve problems

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Science Focus Podcast

Some of the brightest names in science and technology talk to the BBC Focus team about the ideas and breakthroughs shaping our world

Science Focus Podcast: Filming a Dynasty © BBC/Nick Lyon

Filming a Dynasty – Nick Lyon

There is no Plan B for planet Earth - Lord Martin Rees © Lucinda Douglas-Menzies/Photo Researchers

There is no Plan B for planet Earth – Lord Martin Rees

What NASA's InSight will tell us about Mars - Bruce Banerdt © NASA/JPL-Caltech

What NASA’s InSight will tell us about Mars – Bruce Banerdt

How to subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast

Q&A

If you are looking for answers to the Universe’s biggest questions or just some fun science facts, our expert panel is ready to answer your questions

How do parrots 'talk'? © Getty Images

How do parrots ‘talk’?

How do Veuns flytraps know when to shut? © Getty Images

How do Venus flytraps know when to shut?

How far back in time would we be able to go and still breathe our planet's air? © Getty Images

How far back in time would we be able to go and still breathe our planet’s air?

Everyday science

How do fireworks work?

What’s the point of laughter?

Why do we get blisters?

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Radical ideas to expand your mind © Sam Falconer

Radical ideas to expand your mind

The Science Of True Crime © Andy Potts

The Science of True Crime

BBC Focus Crossword

BBC Focus Crossword solution #330

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Understand:Discover

Explaining the key concepts of science and discovering the new ones

Gender stereotypes affect child development, but are we on the brink of a backlash? © Getty Images

Gender stereotypes affect child development, but are we on the brink of a backlash?

Gravitational waves point to primordial black holes © Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Why 2019 is going to be a good year for gravitational waves

The Venta Mearsk became the first commercial container ship to successfully navigate the Northern Sea Route © Mearsk

Who wins when the sea ice melts?

Are you ready for the genotype diet? © Getty images

Are you ready for the genotype diet?

Weird & Wonderful

Science doesn't always have to be serious

True or Poo? by Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti is available now (£9.99, Quercus)

Can you separate the truth from the poop in these animal facts?

Make the best meal of the day better with science

How to make breakfast, the best meal of the day, better with science

The Solar System’s top 20 moons ranked. Why? Because we can… © NASA

20 of the most amazing moons in the Solar System

Earth’s Final Frontier: 10 of the most mysterious places in the oceans © Magic Torch/BBC Focus magazine

10 of the most mysterious places in the oceans

More weird and wonderful science

Future Technology

The technology of the future that will change the world as we know it + gadgets

The Digital Silk Road - China's $200 billion project © Getty Images

Future Technology

The Digital Silk Road – China’s $200 billion project

Femtech: can technology predict ovulation, block period pain and reduce incontinence? © Elvie

Future Technology

Femtech: can technology predict ovulation, block period pain and stop incontinence?

© Renault

Future Technology

Renault ZOE: fun to drive but falls flat on a range of issues

Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, predicted the rate of growth in computing power that became known as Moore’s Law back in 1965 © Shutterstock

Future Technology

The end of Moore’s Law: what happens next?

Check out future tech

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Project Discovery: citizen science begins with you

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Why women should pursue a career in STEM

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Science History

The key moments and people that revolutionised our understanding of the world

How fast are the Voyager spacecrafts travelling? © NASA

Mission timeline: Voyager’s landmark moments

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Land speed records – the cars and their drivers

© SSPL/Getty Images

Made in (ancient) China: amazing inventions from the Far East

The platinum-iridium cylinder (right) was the primary standard kilogram for all metric measurements in the U. S. Known as Kilogram No. 20, it was a copy of the International Prototype Kilogram, which was preserved at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Sevres, France. Kilogram No. 4 (left, under double bell jar), a duplicate of No. 20, was used as a secondary standard. Noth cylinders were 39 mm in diameter and 39 mm. high; they were made of 90 percent platinum and 10 percent iridium. Re-comparison of Kilogram No. 20 with the international standard in 1937 showed that the United States standard had changed by only one part in 50 million during approximately 50 years.

A fond farewell to the humble kilo

Read more science history

Interviews

Talking to the people at the forefront of science

My Life Scientific: Dr Sue Black © Yasin Isik

Everyday science

“Technology took me from living on benefits on a council estate, to the career that I have today”

How they filmed incredible scenes of Painted wolves in Dynasties © BBC/Nick Lyon

How they filmed incredible scenes of painted wolves in Dynasties

Festival Of The Spoken nerd © Rosemary Rance

Everyday science

Who says you can’t polish a nerd?

Short periods of sleep might enhance aspects of memory and thinking © Getty Images

Short periods of sleep might enhance aspects of memory and thinking

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Brain Food

The books, TV shows, films, radio, events and games bringing science to life

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WIN a copy of the new comedy DVD You Can’t Polish a Nerd

10 excellent BBC podcasts to boost your brain on the bus © Getty Images

10 excellent BBC podcasts to boost your brain on the bus

Professor Stephen Hawking, British theoretical physicist. Photographed at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge © Eleanor Bentall/Corbis via Getty Images

Can you solve these deviously difficult Stephen Hawking-inspired questions?

© Marshmallow Laser Feast

What’s on at the British Science Festival 2018

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