In this issue

MICHAEL MOSLEY
Beetroot – that muchmaligned vegetable – can supercharge your athletic performance and boost your heart health. Better start forcing it down…

A WHOLE NEW WHORL
Marine biologist Dr Helen Scales takes us beneath the waves to show us the stories that shells can reveal about their inhabitants..

Huge DNA study reveals new clues about cancer-causing mutations

The findings could lead to better diagnosis and treatments for cancer

1 min

Sleepiness in Alzheimer's patients is caused by damage to neurons that help them stay awake

The finding treatments could lead to new for those with the disease to help them stay alert

1 min

Experts call for NHS to provide genetic tests to usher in era of personalised medicine

We must move away from the current "one drug and one dose fits all" model to make treatments safer and more effective

1 min

COVID-19 can have long-term impacts on the brain

According to a study on nonhuman primates, effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the brain include reduced oxygen flow, neuron damage and bleeding

1 min

NASA to test giant slingshot designed to fling satellites into orbit

NASA has teamed up with private spaceflight company SpinLaunch to trial a unique system designed to send satellites into space using a slingshot-like launcher. The system works by attaching a rocket payload onto one end of a giant spinning arm powered by electric motors, accelerating it to high speeds and then flinging it out into space.

1 min

How to Build the Future of Social Media

At the Polarization Lab in North Carolina, multidisciplinary researchers – including social scientists, statisticians and computer scientists – are breaking apart the social media status quo to rebuild it, one peer-reviewed brick at a time

5 mins

W Boson: Is About to Break Physics?

The mass of the W boson, a subatomic particle, appears to be wrong. What could this mean for the Standard Model of particle physics?

3 mins

Ideas we like...

Products review

3 mins

A WHOLE NEW WHORL

MANY OF US HAVE SEEN SEASHELLS ON THE BEACH AND MARVELLED AT THEIR COLOURS, AND PATTERNS OF CURVES AND RIDGES. BUT SEASHELLS ARE FAR MORE THAN JUST PRETTY OBJECTS, AND THEIR INTRICATE STRUCTURES CAN HELP US LEARN MORE ABOUT THE INHABITANTS THAT ONCE DWELLED INSIDE THEM

6 mins

LAB-GROWN MEAT

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT A FUTURE WHERE YOU CAN HAVE YOUR STEAK AND EAT IT…

9 mins

YOU CAN'T BEAT BEETROOT

How this humble, purple vegetable can improve the health of your heart

2 mins

THE DAY THE DINOSAURS DIED

New BBC documentary, Dinosaurs: The Final Day, presented by Sir David Attenborough, digs into a fossil site that may have recorded the moment an asteroid wiped out almost all life on Earth. Holly Spanner met with Robert DePalma, one of the palaeontologists at the site, to find out more about the significance of this discovery...

8 mins

Read all stories from BBC Science Focus

BBC Science Focus Magazine Description:

BBC Focus Magazine is the magazine of popular science and technology that explains the wonders of the Universe through stunning photography and accessible articles. Contributors include the very best writers and science experts, with columns every issue from renowned science writer Robert Matthews, TV presenter and scientist Helen Czerski, and science fiction author Stephen Baxter. From archaeology to neuroscience, climate change and particle physics, BBC Focus Magazine keeps you up to speed with the cutting-edge science and gadgets that will change our world.