The Stories

The media constantly bombards us with science scare stories, but how close are they to the truth? Our background briefs reveal the facts:

Billie Piper and David Tennant from TV's Doctor Who

Be there then

If we can travel through time, why aren't people from the future here telling us how? Or at least in 1980s France buying up all the cheap property? Get to grips with time travel.

Be somewhere else now

It's the quickest way to travel from place to place - but is it even possible? Will we be stuck with jets and taxis, or might our future allow us to try teleportation?

Swapping polarity

North is north, and south is south - and while the twain might never meet, they might swap. Will pole shifts lead to magnetic mayhem?

Have you heard, it's in the stars...

Are we doomed to be crushed to death in a collision with a rock from the skies? Is there an asteroid heading for impact - planet earth?

Champs on drugs?

Is sport ruined by the use of drugs? Can you keep the Olympic ideal pure simply by testing the best?

A weighty matter

If butter is bad, why do some marge manufacturers claim their product is good for you? How bad is fat?

Smarter than science?

They're working out how to survive the onslaught of antibiotics - now can anything stop superbugs on the march?

Computing viruses

We're familiar with the big risks - but is our existence under attack from invisible forces? Meet our biggest smallest threat.

A change in the weather

Some experts believe evidence already shows the climate is changing; others claim it's showing nothing more than natural variations. So, will we be frying or freezing?

Tanning or cooking up cancers?

Tanning, of course, used to be a term for the process of taking a dead animal's skin and turning it into leather. Is suntanning so very different? Is the sun bad for you?