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7 gut health secrets that can slow ageing

By studying the increasing number of people who are living beyond their 100th birthdays, scientists are discovering the secrets of their guts
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The US coastline is heading for an ocean disaster even faster than we thought, study suggests

New research suggests the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation could weaken by half this century with wide ranging consequences for weather, food and sea levels across the world
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Your gut microbiome could add years to your life. Here's how to help it

New research suggests that our microbiomes can even help us resist the effects of ageing, if we treat them right
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What is the 'returning soldier effect'? Is it real?

You may have come across the idea that more boys are born after a war. But is the 'returning soldier effect' real?
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Issue 432 of BBC Science Focus is on sale from 23 April 2026

New issue: Mirrorlife

Mirror life could end all life on Earth. That sounds dramatic, but senior biologists have raised the alarm about experiments happening all around the world. It sounds like something in a Doctor Who plot, but no – mirror life is a real possibility. So why do scientists want to create something that’s potentially apocalyptic? Well, it could also have huge benefits (think back to splitting the atom). The first thing to say, however, is that mirror organisms are still a little way away yet – but only decades, not centuries. So far, scientists have only made mirror molecules, one of life’s building blocks. What for? Life works because its building blocks fit together. Imagine drilling a screw into a piece of wood. The screw cuts a hole with a thread that snugly matches its own. If, for some reason, the Doctor showed up and handed you a mirror version of the screw, its thread would be in reverse. It wouldn’t twist into the hole you’d just made as the threads wouldn’t match. That said, the mirror screw would still work; you’d just have to create a mirror hole for it. Mirror molecules, including DNA, work a bit like that. They follow the same principles as the biology around us, but they’re entirely incompatible with traditional biological functions. In medical terms, this means they’re effectively invisible to your body’s systems. Our biology doesn’t have the tools to recognise these molecules and break them apart. And if someone took these mirror molecules and put them together to make a cell and then an organism… you’d have mirror life. But we don't have any way of breaking it down. If it escaped the lab, we’d just have to hope it didn’t have an appetite.
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procrastination © Getty

How to finally break your procrastination habit, according to a psychology professor

These are the scientifically-backed ways to get back on task
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Why do we root for the villain in movies?

Why you can't resist rooting for the wrong side
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A mysterious Amazonian soil is making trees grow six times taller – and nobody knows why

The mysterious, nutrient-rich soil of the Amazons might hold the secret to fight climate change
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The biggest lie we've been told about processed food

Corn demonstrates humans sometimes need processed food to flourish
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