Good teaching should ensure that, when students eventually leave school, they will still think in a scientific way about things they do at home and in the workplace. Making this connection, articles in this issue focus on what we can see around us and on ways of helping to explain our observations. Science can be applied in the home and garden, and to many other everyday experiences. This should help to make science subjects seem more important and more relevant to those students who become disaffected by science during their years of compulsory education.  Together with science notes and some non-theme articles, this issue is well worth the read!