Winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry: Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell and William Moerner. Credit: Matt Staley, HHMI / Bernd Schuller, Max-Planck-Institut / K. Lowder

By Mark Lorch, University of Hull

Robert Hooke was a pioneer of microscopy, when back in the 17th century he drew stunning images of insects, plant cells and fossils. Since then microscopes that use light to magnify things we can’t see with the naked eye have, of course, improved. But, surprisingly, 300 years of engineering lenses hasn’t improved things all that much.

We all have the legal right to refuse health care. Credit: Warren Goldswain

By Margaret Brown, University of South Australia

Have you thought about how you would want to be treated if you cannot make your own decisions?

What role do genes have to play in children's exam results? Student test by  wavebreakmedia

John O'Keefe , left, and Edvard and May-Britt Moser. Credits: David Bishop, UCL and NTNU

By Luc Henry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded with one half to John O'Keefe and the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser “for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”.

Just before totality on a total lunar eclipse. Credit: Flickr/John Johnson, CC BY-NC-SA

By Tanya Hill, Museum Victoria

At least twice a year, Earth comes between the sun and the moon. The result is a lunar eclipse, where we see the splendid sight of Earth’s shadow falling across the moon.