The average global air temperature recorded 2 metres above Earth’s surface was 17.18°C (62.92°F) on 4 July, the highest that has ever been recorded. The previous record was set the day before. | Continue reading
The average global air temperature recorded 2 metres above Earth’s surface was over 17°C (62.6°F) on 3 July, the highest that has ever been recorded | Continue reading
Location trackers show migratory seabirds spend much of their time looking for food near ocean garbage patches, highlighting the need for action on pollution | Continue reading
We are finally figuring out the subtle ways that farm and zoo animals reveal their emotional states, from anxiety to optimism and even joy. The insights are also revealing some surprising ways we can improve their lives | Continue reading
A process for converting scrap metal into high-quality iron, which was crucial to the Industrial Revolution, was devised by Black metallurgists who were enslaved and transported to Jamaica by the British | Continue reading
An artificial intelligence targeting system is better than humans at identifying valid targets, claim its makers, though the full results are classified | Continue reading
Sustainability researchers have serious doubts about whether the EU’s new regulation will succeed in stopping deforestation | Continue reading
The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected this week to approve Japan's plan to release radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean | Continue reading
Dedekind numbers describe the number of ways sets of logical operations can be combined, and are fiendishly difficult to calculate, with only eight known since 1991 - and now mathematicians have calculated the ninth in the series | Continue reading
The imminent approval of the world's first CRISPR treatment for sickle cell disease is just the start: soon this gene-editing tool could be used to tackle everything from cancer to high cholesterol and infertility | Continue reading
The US has seen a sharp rise in deaths during or within one year after pregnancy, with Native American and Black populations at the highest risk | Continue reading
A compound called “klotho”, claimed to be an anti-ageing hormone, improved cognitive function in ageing macaques16 | Continue reading
A plastic, wedge-shaped device could medical particle accelerators 100 times more efficient at generating the protons that can be used for cancer treatment | Continue reading
A phenomenon called cosmological time dilation means that events taking place in the early universe seem to evolve slower than those today | Continue reading
It can take nearly two decades to update practices in healthcare. Closing this gap is the challenge of our time, says implementation scientist Rinad Beidas | Continue reading
It can take up to 17 years for research findings to become part of standard medical care. Implementation scientists like Rinad Beidas are trying to close that gap | Continue reading
From George R. R. Martin’s new Wild Cards anthology to Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's dystopian take on America, there is a wealth of exciting science fiction out this month. Culture editor Alison Flood shares the novels she is most anticipating | Continue reading
It can take up to 17 years for research findings to become part of standard medical care. Implementation scientists like Rinad Beidas are trying to close that gap | Continue reading
A genetic analysis of thousands of Atlantic cod has revealed they all belong to one of five distinctive groups, suggesting they aren't interbreeding and belong to different species | Continue reading
Researchers have identified a network of structures in the brain that may help us to regulate negative emotions when we see something upsetting | Continue reading
Marks on stone tools found in the Tabon Caves on Palawan island in the Philippines suggest they were used for processing plant fibres, allowing the creation of ropes, baskets and other items | Continue reading
A strange and unfamiliar view of Saturn has been captured by the James Webb Space Telescope to help researchers identify its smaller objects and structures | Continue reading
A strange and unfamiliar view of Saturn has been captured by the James Webb Space Telescope to help researchers identify its smaller objects and structures | Continue reading
As we age, our muscles shrink, and now it seems a growing proportion of the fibres in them also become deformed – fortunately, resistance training may return them to better shape | Continue reading
Some female black-spotted frogs croak when a male approaches, and it’s not a come-on – the signal seems to persuade males not to attempt coercive mating | Continue reading
An evolutionary analysis of behavioural traits across primate species may shed light on the question of whether humans are violent by nature | Continue reading
Analysis of data from more than 22,000 people with multiple sclerosis helped researchers identify a genetic variant that is associated with the severity of the disease | Continue reading
Joby Aviation's electric flying vehicle has received regulatory permission to begin test flights in the US, ahead of delivering the vehicle to the US Air Force next year | Continue reading
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new therapy for type 1 diabetes in which people with the condition receive donor pancreatic cells capable of producing insulin | Continue reading
The most significant US climate funding law ever passed, the Inflation Reduction Act, is already having a impact, but it won't be enough for the nation to meet its targets under the 2015 Paris Agreement | Continue reading
A neutrino detector in Antarctica has found heaps of high-energy neutrinos coming from distant galaxies, but none from within our own – until now | Continue reading
Being younger or older than this range raises the risk of the baby being born with certain medical conditions | Continue reading
An analysis reveals that 14,663 species of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians are killed for food, kept as pets or used by humans in some way | Continue reading
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has made its first commercial flight to the edge of space, joining a small club of companies offering private space flights | Continue reading
Although carbon footprints are falling in many countries, the gap between the richest and poorest people is increasing, meaning those on higher incomes emit more than their fair share | Continue reading
Research into AI is experiencing a boom, so we have rounded up the best of news from the past month to help you keep up to date | Continue reading
After decades of searching, astronomers have found a distinctive pattern of light, from spinning stars called pulsars, that suggests huge gravitational waves are creating gentle ripples in space-time across the universe | Continue reading
People who took the opioid oxycodone or a placebo for six weeks reported similar pain scores for acute discomfort in their lower back or neck | Continue reading
Senior religious figures from a diverse range of faiths took psilocybin as part of a study on how people's worldviews influence their psychedelic experiences. Many said they felt the divine | Continue reading
An analysis of foraging societies from around the world has found that women hunt in the vast majority of those looked at, confirming that the idea of gender division in providing food is a myth | Continue reading
Parts of the long-awaited Star Trek: Resurgence were excellent, but its technical issues left me wishing I was watching TV, says Jacob Aron | Continue reading
Studies show that time spent outdoors can bring a brain boost, from better concentration to reduced anxiety, says David Robson | Continue reading
These images reveal a very special garden, designed by artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg along with her garden-planning AI algorithm in order to generate garden plans that maximise the number of different pollinators | Continue reading
At a time when the future of human civilisation looks shaky, a reappraisal of how we got here suggests that changing direction may be easier than we think | Continue reading
Claims that superintelligent AI poses a threat to humanity are frightening, but only because they distract from the real issues today, argues Mhairi Aitken, an ethics fellow at The Alan Turing Institute | Continue reading
In the push to give nature and the climate a chance to thrive amid growing agricultural pressures, words like rewilding have become de rigueur among researchers. Just don’t tell the farmers, says Graham Lawton | Continue reading
Eugenia Cheng's latest book about mathematics asks deceptively simple questions that hint at the deep mysteries beneath | Continue reading
A human immune system protein called butyrophilin helps to stop bird flu from infecting people, but some viruses currently circulating have mutations that might overcome this barrier | Continue reading