CATEGORIES

PALEO IS A FLINTSTONE FANTASY

'Big farmer' has changed our digestive capabilities... and that's just one of the reasons why you can't eat like a caveman

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I GET STRANDED ON SNAKE ISLAND?

Just off the coast of southern Brazil lies the island of Queimada Grande, known as 'Snake Island'. Covering just 43 hectares (106 acres), this rocky island is home to between 2,000 and 4,000 highly venomous golden lancehead vipers (Bothrops insularis), which can grow to 70cm (just over 2ft). The snakes were trapped there around 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, when rising sea levels cut them off from the mainland.

Birthday wishes

This is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. It's the closest star-forming region to Earth - around 390 light-years away - and in stellar nursery terms, it's a rather small, quiet region.

A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN

Earth is blanketed by a swarm of human-made debris hurtling around at speeds of up to 8km per second - about five times the speed of a bullet. The UK's Earth & Space Sustainability Initiative hopes to catch these fast-moving projectiles and clean up the nasty, and potentially lethal, mess our cosmic littering habit has caused

THE POWER OF HABIT

Our lives are filled with habitual behaviours, both good and bad, but how do they form and how can we build better ones?

Should you underestimate the power of the Force?

It's an energy that lets you control people's minds and.... make things float. So where do midi-chlorians fit in?

SKIN CANCER: CASES ARE RISING. WHAT CAN WE DO?

Annual cases are expected to reach 2.7 million by 2040

WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BANG SINGULARITY?

The Big Bang marks the beginning of the Universe, right? The physicists brave enough to look beyond it aren't so sure

DON'T KICK THE ROBOT

If something's got no feelings, you can't hurt it, right? So where's the harm?

Artificial intelligence discovers drugs to fight ageing

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh use machine learning algorithm to identify drugs with potential new applications in minutes

HAY FEVER: IS IT REALLY GETTING WORSE?

Hay fever sufferers say their allergies are getting worse... and climate change could be to blame

Five of the best BBQs for the summer

There are hundreds of BBQs on the market, all boasting their own impressive features. But which is the best? The BBC Science Focus team picks their faves...

Ideas we like...

Our pick of the month's smartest tech

MEDICINE : ANT HONEY USED IN INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN MEDICINE COULD INSPIRE POWERFUL NEW ANTIBIOTICS

It's a first for Western science, but Indigenous Australians have been using the honeypot ant medicinally for thousands of years

ASTRONOMY : EERIE 'SONG' OF TWINKLING STARS DRIVES UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR NUCLEAR CORES

Taking a musical approach helps scientists determine how much a star should shine

BIOLOGY : MOTHERS ARE FORCED TO FIGHT A NUTRIENT WAR WITH THEIR UNBORN BABIES

A study on mice enabled scientists to discover that children inherit 'greedy genes' from fathers

GREAT EARED NIGHTJAR

Lock up your goats, it's the great eared nightjar; a big-mouthed, teat-wrangling, milk-gobbler of a bird that will desiccate your bleaters and leave them blind.

Make a Solar System diorama

An easy, fun craft project to learn about our neighbouring planets

WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHANGE ASTRONOMY?

With computers growing smarter than ever, training them how to spot and categorise astronomical objects could lead to a plethora of breakthroughs

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE - WHY DOES JUPITER CHANGE COLOUR?

For years, scientists have tried to work out why Jupiter’s bands frequently move and change colour. Now they believe they’ve found the answer

10 targets to get you started in astrophotography

From star trails to your first planets, Tom Kerss shares 10 inspiring projects to kick off your night photography journey

Capturing a first: the Spin Nebula

Amateur astronomers work collaboratively to produce first high-resolution image of little-known nebula He 2-11

When it comes to lighting, less is more

Patricia Yanez on designing considerate lighting for a luxury Red Sea resort

Early Universe seen running slow

Cosmic clocks appear to run slower soon after the Big Bang, just as Einstein predicted

Mastering flats

Adding DSLR flat frames to your workflow to improve your deep-sky images

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH A CAPTURED ASTEROID?

Asteroids could provide us with rare resources

NEPTUNE

The isolated azure ice giant remains a relative mystery

CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER DX 102AZ

Innovative technology provides the simplest and quickest solution yet to finding objects to observe, and this instrument will be very popular with beginners

Neil deGrasse Tyson - "It would be cool if we were some simulation"

The host of StarTalk has become one of the world's best known astrophysicists, popularising space and science for millions

CLIMATES CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Alongside Earth, our planetary neighbourhood is changing. But not for the better…