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Engineering with algae

Understanding how diatoms create their amazingly intricate shells could revolutionise a range of industries, from nanotechnology to computing. However, despite massive interest, the process remains deeply mysterious, as Tom Ireland explains

Lost in translation

Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and president of the Royal Society Sir Venki Ramakrishnan talks Brexit, the wonders of the ribosome and why he left physics for biology

Focus on: Cryo-electron microscopy

The cool technique revealing molecular structures in thrilling detail

Meningitis: who to vaccinate?

Last year, more than three-quarters of a million people signed a petition to widen the age group immunised against the most common strain of meningitis in young children. So why not vaccinate more kids? Martin Maiden explains the complexities of the fight against Meningococcus

Blue Skies Biology

A unique collaboration involving scientists, artists and amateur rocket enthusiasts is attempting to sample and identify microorganisms on the edge of space. Rachel Brazil reports

An evening with Sir Alec Jeffreys

The inventor of DNA fingerprinting speaks to Alison Woollard about the scientists who inspired him and the 'eureka moment' that revolutionised forensic science