Jim Al-Khalili goes in search of a giant of Arabic science - al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham.

Russia has been living up to its reputation as a difficult country with its decision to cut gas supplies to Ukraine, writes the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow.

Who will your Premier League club buy and sell in the transfer window?

This year has been a mixed one for British wildlife, say National Trust experts in their review of 2008.

The tech team reflects on the personal impact technology has made on them in 2008.

Key facts, figures and dates

Key facts, figures and dates

Cambridgeshire is the county with the highest population growth in the UK, according to a new study for the BBC.

New Zealand's prime minister-elect John Key announces cabinet line-up, to applause from the business sector.

A chronology of key events

Speculation abounds about who Barack Obama will nominate for the top jobs in his new administration, but there are 4,000 lower-level posts available says the BBC's Richard Lister.

A brief history of the Loch Ness Monster's influences on Hollywood, advertising, some of its famous sightings and theories.

Our guide to many of the business terms currently cropping up regularly in the headlines.

Neuronomics is a new discipline in which researchers study the brain, hormones and nervous system in search of an explanation of our behaviour as investors and shoppers.

Most people have heard of the Hippocratic Oath, but what does it actually say and why does it say it?

The BBC's Jonathan Head looks at the deepening and increasingly impassioned political showdown in Thailand.

A leading conservation group is campaigning against plans to knock down a historic Oxfordshire railway station.

A look at Boyzone's progress in the year since they announced they were reforming for a UK arena tour.

A look at a few of the technology products that herald what's to come at your house