© 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. We use cookies to give you the best online ...

Fifty years since its discovery, scientists have finally worked out how a molecular machine found in mitochondria allows us to make the fuel we need from sugars, a process vital to all life on Earth.

The Author Information section provides specific article requirements to help you turn your research into an article suitable for BMJ Open SEM.