There is a long-standing tension in science education between studying topics of relevance in students' everyday and future lives and formal courses structured for progressive development of key concepts and knowledge. It applies to some degree at all stages of school education, but more starkly at the secondary level than primary and has surfaced most recently in relation to addressing the applications and implications of science to the present generation of secondary students, as part of the "How Science Works" strand of the new National Curriculum. Hence, this article looks at research of relevance at the secondary level.