Whether this is your first visit or you're a regular, welcome to the BBC Science & Nature website. This page explains how the site has developed from its two predecessors, Science and Nature.

What is different?

The Science and the Nature websites, which have always been natural bedfellows, became a single entity in 2004 – Science & Nature.

Pages have been grouped under six major topics:

1. Animals
2. Prehistoric Life
3. Human Body & Mind
4. Space
5. Hot Topics
6. TV & Radio Follow-up

Why all the changes?

Independent research showed that people interested in subjects covered by the two separate websites had huge problems working out where to find them. (Ask yourself where you think dinosaurs or animal research should go.)

• The combined Science & Nature site has new navigation that is as consistent as possible across the thousands of pages we maintain. Extensive user testing – with typical members of the public – suggests we've managed to make the new look more enticing and less exasperating.
  
  
• We've also taken the opportunity to check through vast swathes of the site for mistakes and to improve the way search engines will rummage through the pages for you.

How will it affect me?

Very few webpages have moved to new URLs, so if you have Netscape 'bookmarks' or Internet Explorer 'favorites', you probably do not need to change them.

• However, a large number of sections have been trimmed of content that was out-of-date or just being ignored by users. So it's quite possible you can no longer find pages you did once visit.
  
  
• You may get redirected to other relevant pages. Even if you hit a dead end, you should get a friendly help page not just a '404 error' report. Please tell us if this doesn't happen.
  
  

Previously, all the pages in Nature and Science had URLs with /nature or /science just after the bbc.co.uk part. Some pages in the merged site, including its homepage, sit within a new 'top level domain' - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn

How can I comment or get help?

We value your feedback and do read every single message you send, although we are unlikely to have time to acknowledge it personally.

• You can send us a message from almost every page in the Science & Nature site by clicking Contact Us in the menu on the left hand side. (If you want to send us a comment right now, please fill in a feedback form.)
  
  

What next?

The Science & Nature team will carry on doing its best to make web pages that are innovative both technically and editorially.

We value your opinions and the simple fact that you spend time looking at what we make. Thanks for reading this – we hope you like the Science & Nature website.