SPLENDID PERSEIDS WHEN: EARLY-LATE AUGUST

The Perseid meteor shower shows activity from mid-July through to late August. Generally the meteor rate is low, but between 10-16 August, rates are higher, reaching a peak in the early hours of 13 August.

HOW DO VARIFOCAL GLASSES WORK?

Varifocals are lenses that allow you to see close-up, far away and somewhere in between, all through the same pair of glasses.

SHEEPSHEAD FISH

Someone slap a lawsuit on the dentist who fitted this fish with the freakishly human teeth... What's that you say? Evolution did this. By natural selection? What was it thinking! The sheepshead fish, aka the lovechild of Billy Bass and my granny's dentures, is a scaly, sparkly swimmer that can be found in the shallow waters of the western Atlantic, from Nova Scotia to Brazil. It's a euryhaline species, which means it can tolerate a wide range of salinity.

CHRIS PACKHAM VERSUS THE WORLD

After conquering wildlife programming, presenter Chris Packham is taking on the planet in Earth, a BBC series that sheds new light on the history of our home. He talks Noa Leach through the show's surprising science and his guilty conscience

Five of the best outdoor speakers

A good outdoor speaker needs to be portable, offer great audio and be able to stand up to all types of weather. The BBC Science Focus team picks their faves

Ideas we like...

Our pick of the month's smartest tech

THE LAB

Three things to make and do

Should disposable barbecues be banned?

Some people think it's time to say goodbye to these single-use sizzlers.

Who invented music?

Singing along is fun, but when did it all begin?

James Stewart

Meet the man trying to spread a positive message about our planet.

HERE COMES TROUBLE!

Look out! Isabel Thomas goes in search of nature's naughtiest animals and asks if they are misbehaving or just misunderstood...

"We knew that this would be a historic comet"

Astronomer David Levy was immortalised for his co-discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 – its impact with Jupiter 29 years ago held the world in awe

New Tatooine-like exoplanet discovered orbiting twin suns

For decades, astronomers wondered if planets with twin Suns like Luke Skywalker’s fictional home world of Tatooine were only science fiction.

WHAT'S THE STRANGEST THING SENT INTO SPACE?

From LEGO to pizza, this list of space oddities proves that almost anything can make its way into the cosmos

Askar 130PHQ flatfield apo refractor

If you've got the budget, this hefty refractor's got fine views and a deluxe feel

JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE FINDS A GARGANTUAN GEYSER ON SATURN'S MOON

Scientists are longing to go back to the moon to sample the plume material for signs of life

BEYOND PLUTO

From Planet X to objects frozen in time – what truly lurks outside the Solar System’s chaotic frontier

12 AMAZING JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE BREAKTHROUGHS

Webb is peering across the universe to discover new things about planets, galaxies and other cosmic objects

The great American eclipses

In a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle, two solar eclipses are about to cross over the USA. Jamie Carter has the details

A new Pentagon-funded hypersonic test vehicle could fly in summer 2024

A new experimental hypersonic cruise vehicle could be flying as soon as next summer under an initiative from the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

CAN SPACE EXPLORATION REALLY BE ETHICAL?

More than 60 years after Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere, human exploration and exploitation of space isn’t just a matter of technological innovation… it continues to raise many ethical issues

THE BIG THREE

The top sights to observe or image this month

THE FORGOTTEN FORCE

A seemingly weak magnetic entity could have made all the difference in our universe’s evolution

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT

In the latest episode of The Sky at Night, Arik Kershenbaum considers whether it's inevitable that intelligent alien civilisations are out there

Catch Saturn's ring before they disappear

Jane Clark explains the gear, software and techniques beginners need to capture Saturn on camera before its famous rings vanish from view

Earth is getting hotter at a faster rate despite pledges of government action

Average global temperatures are rising at an ever-faster rate despite pledges by world leaders to tackle climate change.

Scientists beam solar power to Earth from space for the first time

A space solar power prototype has demonstrated its ability to wirelessly beam power through space and direct a detectable amount of energy towards Earth for the first time.

Create your best image of Saturn

Great pictures of the ringed planet start as video, before stacking and processing

What does space smell like?

From rum to rotten eggs, Jonathan Powell turns his nose to heaven's scents

Wild weather across the Solar System

Katrin Raynor looks at the extreme climates found on our neighbouring planets