A design engineering student has created a violin from a composite material impregnated with spider's silk, and we look ahead to the Royal Society Summer Exhibition, where Imperial researchers will be presenting their work.

In this edition: new insights from an old disease, how China is getting ahead in innovations, and using diamonds to improve solar cell efficiency.

The latest edition is a Festival special as our reporters get involved in research, take you on a tour and play along with some performances. 18 May 2016

From trackers in Hyde Park to the impact of music in the operating theatre and much more. Our reporting squad was out and about to capture a flavour of it all. Imperial Podcast 18 May 2016.

A small pilot study shows early promise for using the active compound in magic mushrooms to treat depression and a bouncy bio-glass that could help repair damaged knees. Podcast 18 May 2016.

In this edition: the next big mission to Neptune or Uranus, a diplomat’s response to COP21 and the unsteady history of the Earth’s magnetic field.

By studying the properties of tiny magnetic minerals billions of years old, Dr Adrian Muxworthy can tell when the Earth’s magnetic field has flipped – north becoming south and vice versa.

Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, chats with the Grantham’s co-director Jo Haigh and two PhD students, about the impact of the COP21 agreement and her hopes for the future.

Dr Adam Masters had an unusual Easter, helping to define the next big planetary mission to Neptune or Uranus, planets no missions have visited for more than 25 years.

We look forward to getting hands on with everything from robots to DNA at the Imperial Festival 7-8 May, and we talk to Dr Mike French who ran the London marathon, raising £52,000 for schistosomiasis treatment and research.