I was standing in the queue at the supermarket one lunchtime, when the heading on a magazine caught my eye - so I picked it up and bought it. I know these things are put there to catch us unawares but I'm not usually an impulse buyer so I can walk past the displays of chocolates and magazines with titillating headlines and/or pictures. But this one was different.

The magazine I bought was an issue of New Scientist, nothing racier I assure you. And the banner across the front of the issue was a series of light globes and the headline read "Great Ideas That Shaped Our World".

Here's how the New Scientist introduced their cover story:

"Certain questions define the way we see the world. How did the universe begin? What is mater made of? What shaped our planet? How did the amazing diversity of life arise? We take many of the answers for granted, but maybe we shouldn't. When we asked 10 of the biggest names in science to explain the significance of their discipline we were surprised by their response…."