杏吧原创

Desert melting pots – Intriguing relics of a technique for making steel previously known only from early manuscripts have been found in Central Asia. Michael Bond reports

Batteries not included – They keep on working long after space batteries have conked out. Ben Iannotta discovers how NASA is putting a new spin on energy storage

An eye bigger than the Earth – Held together by a cat’s cradle of wire, an orbiting radio telescope is set to offer astronomers an unprecedented view of the most distant objects in the Universe, writes Marcus Chown

Let’s make nodules – Underground and in the dark, there’s a subtle chemistry that brings bacteria and plants together in the ultimate marriage of convenience. Rosie Mestel gets to the root of the seduction

Small, smart and adaptable – Staffed by squads of fist-sized robots, tomorrow’s high-precision assembly lines will be put together at a few hours’ notice on a desk-sized factory floor. Bennett Daviss reports

Planet in a bottle

Feynman and the psychotherapist

Can’t stop shopping – Spend, spend, spend scream the signs in the store windows鈥攚ords that spell disaster for those who can’t control the urge to buy. Michael Day reports from the shopping capital of the world

One from the heart – Genuine four-leafed clovers and a paperweight with your own DNA in it. Rosie Mestel sifts through the daft presents dreamt up by people who should be grappling with universal truths

Christmas Quiz

Not cooking but warming – Serious researchers are turning themselves into living radiators by walking into giant microwave ovens. Pete Moore wonders why

1996 and all that – Sometimes only a picture will do. Ben Crystall chooses the images behind some of the top science stories of the year

Hold the turkey… – Forget the Christmas roast, get out and round up those yummy little mopane worms, says Our Woman in the Veld, Ellen Bartlett

Skipping Christmas