Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i BBC Science Focus Magazine

This may look like the sort of fantasy forest you might get lost in during a dream, but it's very much real. That said, it's neither a forest, nor big enough for you to explore. And that's because the surreal structures you see here aren't trees. They're coral. Specifically, a cauliflower soft coral, but seen from the inside. The image, which was a runner-up in the Natural Artistry category of the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, was taken by Ross Gudgeon. He captured it with the help of an extended macro wide camera lens (a specialised system that helps make very small things look very large), which he managed to carefully thread up inside the coral's delicate branches. Most corals rely on photosynthesis for sustenance, but soft corals,…

A sudden growth spurt has led to a ‘rogue’ planet becoming the fastest-growing planet astronomers have ever seen. The planet unexpectedly began gorging on the gas surrounding it and is now swallowing down six billion tonnes (2.2 trillion pounds) every second, according to a new study. That makes it the hungriest world on record. The planet, named Cha 1107-7626, is around 5–10 times the mass of Jupiter and is located 620 light-years away. Being a rogue planet, it doesn't orbit a star, but instead floats freely through the cosmos on its own. “People may think of planets as quiet and stable worlds, but with this discovery we see that planetary-mass objects freely floating in space can be exciting places,” said Dr Victor Almendros-Abad, an astronomer from the National Institute for…

One of the longest dinosaur paths has been discovered in an unlikely location. ‘Jurassic trackways’ are rare in the UK, yet in a quarry in Oxfordshire, scientists have revealed a dinosaur ‘superhighway’ full of footprints left by sauropods – the largest animals to ever walk on land. Dewars Farm Quarry has been known for its dinosaur footprints since the 1990s. But when scientists discovered 200 footprints in 2024, they suspected there might be even more to be found. Using controlled explosions, they discovered the ancient footprints buried under tonnes of limestone rock. The path the explosions revealed is 220m (722ft) long – one of the longest continuous trackways ever found. “We're uncovering something that people have never seen before,” palaeontologist Prof Kirsty Edgar of the University of Birmingham told BBC News.…

Next year, Formula 1 (F1) will pull into the pits for one of its most ambitious overhauls yet – trading fossil fuel for a 100-per-cent sustainable alternative. It's part of a broader effort to meet new environmental rules and to prove the sport can, in F1's words, “keep us driving without building new cars.” But not everyone's convinced. With fuel from races making up less than one per cent of the sport's total carbon footprint, experts say F1 has far bigger environmental problems to solve. So, what are they and how can they be tackled? FRESH FUEL In 2020, F1's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), set a deadline for race cars’ engines to run on 100-per-cent sustainable fuels from 2026 and for the sport to be carbon…

Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who instilled in me the importance of politeness and the authority of adults. These principles turned me into the kind of child that teachers loved – and that my peers mocked. I raised my hand to answer every question and volunteered to hand out books at every opportunity. It could've been that I was innocently trying to be a good student, but I'm sure I also thought that being in my teachers’ good books might give me some kind of academic advantage. I was people pleasing. As I grew up, I found new people to please. Lecturers, recruiters, strangers on the internet. I hid behind the excuse that I was saying ‘yes’ to things I really wanted to say…

When you think of cholesterol, what's the first food that comes to mind? For many, the answer is eggs. And for good reason: their yolks contain relatively high amounts of the waxy fat found in our blood and decades-old studies warned that eating too many could send your cholesterol levels soaring. As any doctor will tell you, that would be a very bad thing. High cholesterol raises your risk of cardiovascular disease – the world's leading cause of death – as well as stroke and dementia. According to several recent papers, however, eggs may not deserve their bad reputation. In fact, one Australian study suggests that eating two a day could lower your levels of ‘bad’ low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol – the kind that clogs your arteries. “For your average…

Imagine coasting through flu season with barely a sniffle. Or brushing off COVID, no matter how many times it mutated. Imagine, in fact, that no virus can harm you, from chickenpox to Dengue to HIV. Even the deadliest viruses we know of, like rabies or Ebola, don't cause you serious problems. For a handful of people, this seems to be the case. Anyone with a specific and rare genetic mutation benefits from a superpowered side-effect: they fight off viruses with ease, to the extent that most of the time, they don't even know they've been infected. The mutation in question causes a deficiency in a key immune system protein called ISG15. In turn, this leads to a mildly elevated systemic inflammation in their bodies – it's this inflammation that seems…

Earth exists in a bubble. Our atmosphere forms a protective barrier between everything on the planet's surface and the near-empty vastness of space. But it's not the only bubble Earth sits inside. Beyond our familiar atmospheric cocoon lies a much larger bubble, an invisible boundary carved by the Sun itself. This bubble, known as the heliosphere, is enormous. It encompasses the entire Solar System, spanning such a vast distance that only two spacecraft have ever managed to leave it. Launched in 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 passed beyond the heliosphere into interstellar space – the region between stars – in 2012 and 2018 respectively. They're the first man-made objects to ever travel beyond the Sun's protective bubble, and are still transmitting data about the charged particles and plasma waves…

HOW TO SEE THE FULL MOON AND GEMINIDS WHEN: EARLY DECEMBER The upcoming full Moon on 4 December is astronomically known as a perigee full Moon. Perigee is a term that describes when the Moon is closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit. Consequently, perigee full Moons are slightly larger and brighter than average. To be honest, from month to month you wouldn't really notice the difference. This is because the transition from an apogee full Moon – one that occurs when the Moon is furthest from Earth in its orbit – and a perigee full Moon, is a gradual affair throughout the year. This year's December full Moon may make more of a stir because it occurs when the Moon is in Taurus, where it'll be able to perform…

PENCILS AT THE READY! ACROSS 1 Agent has even less money (6) 5 New room, new idiot (5) 9 Calm about finding articles in calendar (7) 10 Playground item shows change of opinion (5) 11 Alter design at some future time (5) 12 Nobleman and former queen holding one in the past (7) 13 Way to travel shows pace (6) 15 Set out a site behind loud carnival (6) 18 Firm trade negotiated before movement (3,4) 20 Hammer donated to head of library (5) 23 Sit, holding last of writer's writing (5) 24 Gull, say, cooked - braised (7) 25 Survives final son (5) 26 He sets out arguments (6) DOWN 2 Right time to come back and send money (5) 3 Related to considerate communist (7) 4 Dodgy business involving sports equipment (6) 5 Commiserated about skinflint (5) 6 Almost bringing up singular fruit (7) 7 Airing…

This is a dinosaur egg. But it's also a key, because it has helped the experts examining it to unlock a new, more accurate method of dating dinosaur eggs. Up until now, the ages of fossilised eggs were estimated based on the analysis of radioactive elements in any volcanic rocks surrounding them. That method wouldn't work here, though, as there are no volcanic rocks near where this egg was found. There is, however, uranium in the crystals that formed inside the egg over the millennia it lay buried – an inclusion that opened the door to another technique: uranium-lead dating. The technique uses a mass spectrometer to determine the ratio of uranium to lead in a material and thereby pinpoint its age (radioactive uranium decays through a series of steps…

“If everyone ate a healthy diet, we would be able to feed 10 billion people in 2050 with seven per cent less land than we use today” A major report on the global food system has found that less than one per cent of the world is eating a diet that's good for the planet and human health. Switching to a healthier diet, however, could prevent up to 15 million premature deaths per year, while cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 per cent. These are the findings of a report by the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission. The report brings together the expertise of nutritionists, climate scientists, economists, doctors, social scientists and agriculturalists from more than 35 countries around the world. The Commission assessed the impact of the food…

You might be surprised to learn that there are more than two types of diabetes. We're all familiar with types 1 and 2, but you may have seen another one – type 1.5 – making headlines recently. Type 1.5 diabetes, or latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) to use its official name, is not a new form of diabetes, but it is somewhat rare. It's been medically recognised as a distinct form of diabetes since 1993 and accounts for 3–12 per cent of all cases of diabetes in adults. But as LADA shares similarities with its two, more famous, cousins, it's also trickier to identify. Hence, it's often misdiagnosed. As many as 14 per cent of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may actually have LADA, which is why it's…

“Here's the new Ferrari EV.” Five words I never imagined saying. And as I delivered my piece-to-camera at the famous Maranello factory in Modena, Italy, I felt a frisson of history being made. Because this is a very big deal. The world's most admired automotive brand has been conspicuously absent for over a decade of battery-only EV industry transition. It just carried on doing what it's always done: building loud, wailing V12, V8 and V6 combustion engines. So, when the Prancing Horse suddenly changes strategic direction, the world sits up and takes notice. The announcement of the Elettrica is a defining moment in Ferrari's history. A FERRARI, BUT ELECTRIC For those at the back shouting ‘Sacrilege! I'll never buy one!’ Remember Enzo Ferrari's oft-repeated mantra: ‘innovate, innovate, innovate.’ As Ferrari's…

As the winter months draw in, so does the yearly wave of colds and flu, making now the perfect time to think about protecting yourself and others. You know the drill: wash your hands often, cover your coughs and sneezes, avoid touching your face, keep indoor spaces ventilated, stay home if you feel unwell and get a flu shot. But beyond this familiar advice, there are also useful steps you can take that you might not know about. Here are the latest findings and lesser-known strategies to help get you and your family through the cold and flu season. HUMIDITY IS KEY It's common knowledge that ventilation is important to help stop the spread of cold and flu viruses. But what's often overlooked and plays an equally important role in…

The term ‘gut health’ pops up everywhere these days. But while phrases such as low-carb diets, low-fat diets and high-protein snacks have come and gone, gut health is more than just a fad. Unlike previous trends, the gut-health movement is backed by solid scientific evidence gained over two decades of discovery. We've known that there are helpful and harmful bacteria living in our guts for a long time, but it's only been during the last 20 years that we've come to realise just how important they can be. During that time, we've gained insights into the effects they have on our health – both physical and mental – and the influence that the foods and drinks we consume have on them. This voyage of discovery is far from over, though,…

Just when you thought Bambi couldn't get any cuter, meet the pudu, the world's smallest deer. Standing little taller than a domestic cat, what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in allure. Doe-eyed, button-nosed, with little legs and perky ears, this diminutive South American mammal looks like it has stepped straight out of a Disney film. There are two species of pudu: southern and northern, aka small and smaller. The southern pudu, which has chestnut-brown fur, is native to the Valdivian temperate forests of south-central Chile and Argentina. Meanwhile, the northern pudu, which has a lighter coat and a darker face, is native to the Andes of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador. “THESE ARE NERVOUS ANIMALS THAT MOVE CAUTIOUSLY AND SPOOK EASILY” Adult northern pudus weigh…

It's a difficult truth to swallow, but research shows that, every year, we consume between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles with our food. It's enough to give you a kind of cognitive indigestion. How, in this age of food safety and nutrition, can we be pigging out on plastics when unappetising studies show they're probably harming our short- and long-term health? One 2024 study looked at the plastics found in a range of 16 sources of protein in US diets. It found that from those foods alone, the average meal contained between 74–220 microplastic particles. That's not counting the flecks that come from our drinks bottles or food containers. It doesn't account for the plastics that break off our cookware and end up on our plates, either. Microplastics have also…