All known natural phenomena fit into just a few categories and unifying them all is quantum field theory, says physicist Matt Strassler | Continue reading
As a clownfish spends time with an anemone, its mucus coating begins to change. Chemical tweaks to sugars in the slime may calm stinging cells in anemone tentacles | Continue reading
A total solar eclipse is a unique experience. From shadow bands to the sun’s majestic corona and pinkish prominences, here’s what you can expect to see | Continue reading
After hatching from eggs, young ringed caecilians feed on their mother’s skin, but also on a milk-like substance secreted from her rear end | Continue reading
The results, of 13 per cent weight loss after three months, need to be confirmed by larger and longer studies, but are seen as promising | Continue reading
Quantum computing firm D-Wave says its machines are the first to achieve "computational supremacy" by solving a practically useful problem that would otherwise take millions of years on an ordinary supercomputer | Continue reading
Mass mortality events at salmon farms have been getting more frequent since 2011, sometimes killing millions of fish at once, with causes including heatwaves and poor living conditions | Continue reading
By rotating a tank of water at 75 revolutions per minute, it’s possible to replicate some of the stunning, swirling patterns on Jupiter’s surface | Continue reading
An experimental Alzheimer's treatment involving sounds and flickering lights also prevented a decline in mental sharpness among mice having chemotherapy | Continue reading
Large language models still demonstrate racial prejudice against speakers of African American English, despite the safety guard rails implemented by tech companies such as OpenAI | Continue reading
February was the ninth month in a row to set a global heat record, with global average temperatures 1.77°C above the pre-industrial average for the month | Continue reading
People with artery plaques containing microplastics were about four times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those with plastic-free plaques | Continue reading
Dogs with a mutation in the POMC gene, common in Labradors and flat-coated retrievers, have a stronger appetite for snacks between meals and a lower metabolic rate | Continue reading
Living in close proximity to strangers requires shared social norms – but manners can also be used to divide us, says Kirsty Sedgman | Continue reading
Feedback is delighted to learn about a company's Valentine's Day promotion offering "a complimentary breeding pair of genetically modified mice" to potential customers in the mood for romance | Continue reading
Searching for the true nature of neutrino particles also provides the perfect experimental conditions to seek evidence of another slippery customer – proton decay, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein | Continue reading
These stunning photographs are all shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 | Continue reading
Research that involves creating "mini-organs" from human cells, including those from fetuses, may leave people uncomfortable – so the best approach is to explain the reasoning behind the work and its potential benefits | Continue reading
Palaeontologist Donald R. Prothero squares up to the tough task of explaining how life and climate have shaped each other over the 4.5 billion years of Earth's history. Amazingly, his book mostly succeeds | Continue reading
Samuel Turvey set off for Indonesia in search of fossils and found all sorts of wonders – including the strange story of mythical wild men who just might be lurking on the island of Sumba | Continue reading
Keeping your chocolate cake moist and delicious when you make it party-sized is tricky, but not impossible, says Catherine de Lange | Continue reading
Something in the environment seems to be causing a rise in early-onset cases of bowel cancer. Now the hunt is on to find out what it is | Continue reading
The subsidence of land caused by the extraction of water and fossil fuels is exacerbating the threat of sea level rise in many US cities, including New Orleans | Continue reading
Korolevo, a site in Ukraine where early humans made stone tools, has been dated to 1.4 million years ago, suggesting early humans moved from Ukraine into the rest of Europe | Continue reading
Some white dwarfs seem to stop ageing for billions of years, and this may be due to the behaviour of unusual ice crystals that heat up the stars | Continue reading
Puzzles that bumblebees cannot solve on their own can be cracked with help from another bee, adding to research on the transmission of culture among insects | Continue reading
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed that a distant galaxy stopped forming stars extraordinarily fast, making it the furthest dead galaxy ever spotted | Continue reading
Millions of us are turning to chatbots for emotional support. But there are good reasons to think AIs will never be capable of genuine empathy, raising profound questions about their role in society | Continue reading
A genetic study of nearly 2700 individuals has revealed the ancestry of Indian people, and gets scientists closer to reconstructing the genomes of ancient Neanderthals | Continue reading
A company called Colossal claims it has taken a "momentous step" towards bringing back the woolly mammoth. Here's all you need to know about whether such a feat is possible | Continue reading
A company called Colossal claims it has taken a "momentous step" towards bringing back the woolly mammoth. Here's all you need to know about whether such a feat is possible | Continue reading
Gilmour Space Technologies is awaiting approval from the Australian Space Agency for the first launch of its Eris Block 1 orbital rocket, with plans to deploy a satellite as soon as April | Continue reading
Our skin's pores normally enlarge when we exercise, but this appears to be hindered if we are wearing make-up, which may prevent the release of healthy oils | Continue reading
The much-touted advice to take 10,000 steps a day for our health has been accused of lacking evidence, but new research suggests that hitting this target has serious benefits | Continue reading
A proposal to define the Anthropocene, a geologic epoch defined by human activity, has been rejected – surprising even scientists who consulted the voting group | Continue reading
Follow these tips to have a safe viewing experience during the upcoming North American total solar eclipse | Continue reading
Researchers in the US Army are experimenting with commercial AI chatbots as battlefield advisers in war game simulations – but experts caution that such AI should not be used in high-stakes situations | Continue reading
A new understanding of what happens to the brain after a knock to the head is finally waking us up to the risk of contact sports, and ways to stop long term damage | Continue reading
Five exomoon programmes have been picked for the James Webb Space Telescope, raising the hopes of finding moons around exoplanets for the first time | Continue reading
Five elephant calves have been found buried in drainage ditches on tea-growing estates in India in a rare example of burial behaviour in non-human animals | Continue reading
Five new varieties of Penicillium roqueforti, the fungus used to make blue cheese, might rescue the fungus from a genetic dead end and produce pharmaceutical compounds | Continue reading
MethaneSAT will orbit the planet 15 times a day to capture unprecedented amounts of data on methane emissions from human and natural sources | Continue reading
Mysterious green sunsets were reported after the massive eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 – now simulations show how they were created and just how rare they are | Continue reading
Tracking data shows that young white storks spend more time exploring new places, while older ones take a more direct route on their annual migrations | Continue reading
The ocean on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is one of the best places we have found to search for alien life, but it might have less oxygen than researchers had thought | Continue reading
Fetal cells retrieved from fluid in the uterus can now be turned into balls of cells called organoids, which could help diagnose and treat fetuses with a serious lung condition | Continue reading
What did NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to sample Bennu discover? Mission leader Dante Lauretta says the asteroid could hold clues about how life began | Continue reading
Existing quantum computers can solve some problems faster than any ordinary computer, but none of those problems has any practical use. Google and XPRIZE hope to change that | Continue reading