An analysis of GPS data has revealed a slow and otherwise undetectable slip of tectonic plates that begins two hours before an earthquake - but detecting this in advance would require more accurate sensors | Continue reading
Chemicals containing fluorine that are used in pharmaceuticals, fertilisers and batteries can now be made without the release of toxic hydrogen fluoride gas as part of the process | Continue reading
A tiny probe that can be moved deep into the brain via blood vessels could one day monitor brain activity in people with epilepsy or Parkinson's disease | Continue reading
Even if the planet doesn't get any warmer than it is now, melting ice in Greenland could add at least 1.5 metres to the global average sea level and possibly as much as 5 metres | Continue reading
The Hubble Space Telescope has snapped the results of smashing a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphous | Continue reading
Mice with obesity have fewer immune cells in their skin that protect against psoriasis-related inflammation, potentially explaining why obesity increases the risk of the condition | Continue reading
Two sabretooth cat species that lived 5 million years ago had 10-centimetre-long fangs, which they probably used to hunt prey in forested landscapes like leopards do | Continue reading
Male orcas with a surviving postmenopausal mother have fewer signs of injury than those whose mothers are dead or still reproducing | Continue reading
Commonly recommended ways to boost our mood – which can also include expressing gratitude or spending time in nature – are often based on small, poorly designed studies | Continue reading
The ability to warm up parts of their body may help basking sharks migrate long distances and overcome drag when they’re feeding | Continue reading
The Perseids are a major meteor shower - here is your guide to spotting them in July and August 2023 | Continue reading
A robot made of Lego can speed up and simplify building tiny structures out of DNA that could be used as biological machines | Continue reading
Analysis of a wooden stick thought to be around 300,000 years old suggests it was designed to be thrown rotationally, rather than as a spear | Continue reading
Kagami, a mixed-reality concert at this year's Manchester International Festival, shows the fresh challenges and possibilities of state-of-the-art tech | Continue reading
Putting a layer of "crocks", or broken pottery, in the base of flower pots won't improve drainage – and may actually worsen it, says James Wong | Continue reading
A new way to understand where consciousness comes from and novel insights into subjective thought show that the hard problem of consciousness is worth persevering with | Continue reading
It is hard to focus on getting academic work done when there is increasing hostility in the US to people of colour. This is why being awarded tenure matters, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein | Continue reading
A new guide argues that infectious fungi and fungus-like pathogens are the most devastating causes of disease on Earth | Continue reading
Millions of people, from all walks of life, have come to believe aspects of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Prevention is our only hope, says James Ball | Continue reading
Stunning sci-fi novel by Vajra Chandrasekera uses magical realism to weave a multi-layered, dreamlike story where the nature of memory and how it can be abused is its deepest theme | Continue reading
This photo of Tungurahua, a volcano exploding in the Ecuadorian night, comes from an illustrated book to accompany a TV series about Earth’s deep history | Continue reading
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer tells the story of the man who changed the world forever by developing the atomic bomb. An excellent script and terrific acting capture the awful dilemma of scientists who work for governments – especially in wartime | Continue reading
A strange star more than 1300 light years away appears to have two sides with completely different compositions, and astronomers aren’t sure how it ended up that way | Continue reading
We finally have a grasp on the many different ways of thinking and how your inner mindscape affects your experience of reality | Continue reading
Exoplanet PDS 70b, a gas giant seven times the mass of Jupiter, appears to share an orbit with a ball of dust around the mass of Earth's moon, which could be forming a new planet | Continue reading
A large study found that infrequent bowel movements are associated with a 73 per cent increased risk of cognitive decline, including deficits in memory and attention | Continue reading
Measurements of alcohol levels in fruits collected in a Costa Rican forest reveal that those eaten by mammals contain higher levels of alcohol | Continue reading
An artificial intelligence trained on TikTok videos could help you take part in dance trends without moving a muscle | Continue reading
A new type of particle called the strange pentaquark has been found using the Large Hadron Collider. The particle could help researchers catalogue the states of exotic matter and figure out how fundamental particles stick together | Continue reading
Fungi can be pressed into thin sheets that resist fire by forming a protective char on the outside, and they could be turned into fireproofing materials for buildings | Continue reading
To celebrate the launch of our new podcast, Dead Planets Society, New Scientist editors have selected some of our most delightful premium articles about the solar system and beyond | Continue reading
What would happen if we pushed a sun-sized ball of water into our star? The Dead Planets Society podcast dives into the possibilities | Continue reading
A proposed way to measure consciousness called integrated information theory has been tested using data from human brain scans, and seems to work | Continue reading
In a three-year study on US farms, the numbers of wild pollinators and commercial bees were much higher in fields where pesticides were applied only when needed | Continue reading
A small mammal from the Cretaceous Period appears to have been preserved by volcanic debris while attacking a dinosaur three times its size | Continue reading
The placenta is an incredible organ that we grow for a short period of time, yet it has a surprising long-term influence on our health. Researchers are now developing tools to spot placenta problems and improve the lives of future babies | Continue reading
The experimental drug donanemab slows the progression of Alzheimer's disease compared with a placebo, but the effect may not be large enough to be noticed by people with the condition or their families | Continue reading
Using AI-generated images to train AI quickly creates a loop where the results get worse in either quality or visual diversity | Continue reading
European eels avoid swimming through plumes of effluent from sewage treatment plants, which could delay their journeys and use up precious energy reserves | Continue reading
Graphene, an atom-thick form of carbon, was discovered in 2004 using sticky tape and pencil graphite, but now researchers have found the first ever natural graphene in a gold mine | Continue reading
A treatment to prevent RSV in children up to two years old has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration | Continue reading
The first scientific study of 18th-century paper money printed by Benjamin Franklin reveals that the inventor developed innovations that paved the way for modern currencies | Continue reading
The early universe could be home to huge stars powered by dark matter annihilation instead of fusion – and the James Webb Space Telescope may have already found some | Continue reading
Between 12am and 1am on 17 July, a weather station in Death Valley, California measured temperatures of 48.9°C (120°F). If confirmed it would be the hottest recorded temperature at that time | Continue reading
The head movements that come from some kinds of exercise may bathe brain cells in a fluid that has a blood pressure-lowering effect, according to a study that uses a chair that mimics jogging | Continue reading
There is a lot we don’t know about protons, the particles at the heart of the atom, from what they are made of to whether they live forever. Solving the mysteries surrounding them could transform our understanding of the universe. | Continue reading
Knowing when to say “I don’t know” is a key issue for artificial intelligence tools, which a new AI for clinical decision-making developed by Google aims to address | Continue reading
In research presented in 1856, Eunice Newton Foote described how tubes of gas heated when exposed to sunlight, but the significance of her work was not appreciated | Continue reading