This exciting new edition of Scientia celebrates scientists who are driving discovery in Earth science, astronomy, and related disciplines.

With only days to go until the launch of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), our first section focusing on climate and atmospheric science is particularly pertinent. Here, we introduce researchers who are advancing our understanding of climate breakdown in all its complexity, including how aerosols are impacting the progression of climate change.

Next, our geophysics and planetary science section opens with an exclusive interview with the President of the Association for Women Geoscientists. We then showcase some of the most exciting geophysics research, before venturing beyond our atmosphere to explore the effects of the solar wind on Earth’s magnetic field. We also meet scientists who are exploring strange phenomena on the Red Planet, and those who are advancing the quest to find extra-terrestrial life.

In our final section, we explore the mind-bending fields of astrophysics and cosmology. To introduce this section, we have had the pleasure of speaking with Dr Jamal Mimouni, President of the African Astronomical Association, who discusses astronomical achievements in Africa and how the Association supports and advances astronomy research and education across the entire continent. We then highlight three particularly exciting research projects – from advancing our understanding of how the universe evolved, to simulating the behaviour of plasma that exists within the unimaginably vast spaces between galaxies.