The symmetries of matter are deeper and stranger than they first appear, and they have driven many of the biggest breakthroughs in particle physics. But have we exhausted their usefulness? | Continue reading
The neat picture we once had about the causes of mental illness has turned out to be wrong, but we are building an understanding of a new single underlying factor | Continue reading
A biodegradable plastic-like wrap made from silk changes colour when exposed to rotting foods and degrades quickly in soil | Continue reading
Robots that magnetically attach to the ceiling can rearrange living and working spaces by controlling different objects | Continue reading
A mathematical model shows that even small inconsistencies in how coffee is packed into an espresso machine can lead to weaker brews and watery flavour | Continue reading
A face mask can release nine different scents on demand to make VR experiences more immersive and multisensory | Continue reading
Particles with unusual properties called anyons have long been sought after as a potential building block for advanced quantum computers, and now researchers have found one – using a quantum computer | Continue reading
The West Antarctic ice sheet grew back after severe thinning thousands of years ago – a sign that melting ice today could recover thanks to rising landmasses | Continue reading
Analysis finds the carbon footprint of cultivated meat is likely to be higher than beef if current production methods are scaled up because they are still highly energy-intensive | Continue reading
US healthcare organisations are trialling OpenAI’s GPT-3 for drafting clinician messages to patients. But not all patients are being informed and some AI researchers warn of errors creeping in | Continue reading
Clostridium difficile kills 13,000 people each year in the US alone. A new antibiotic tested in mice works better than our first-line treatments against infection – and prevents reinfection too | Continue reading
Thousands of offshore wells have been left uncapped in the Gulf of Mexico, which means oil or methane could leak out and harm marine ecosystems | Continue reading
The cells could potentially be used to treat range of medical conditions, from heart attacks to cancer, without having to be made from scratch for each person | Continue reading
Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to spot strange asteroid belts around the nearby star Fomalhaut, along with evidence for at least three planets | Continue reading
As the Elon Musk era of Twitter continues to throw up bugs and controversies, some people are looking at alternatives. The invite-only Bluesky is the latest challenger, but does it have staying power? | Continue reading
Many researchers thought butterflies first evolved in Asia, but a global genetic analysis suggests they arose in North America, well before the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct | Continue reading
Many countries and territories have malaria-free status, however, this may be very difficult to achieve in parts of Africa where the parasite is endemic | Continue reading
Why some people evolved the ability to digest milk in adulthood hasn't been clear, but the extra calories that young children got may have been key | Continue reading
By reading a rat's intentions from its brain patterns, an AI can help the rodent move objects in a virtual environment | Continue reading
Communal wound licking has been documented in a hoofed mammal for the first time. American bison may use the behaviour to boost social connections and reduce stress | Continue reading
The World Health Organization has declared an end to covid-19’s designation as a public health emergency of international concern, saying the pandemic is on a "downward trend" | Continue reading
The long-accepted practice of search engines scraping content from websites is being re-examined now that the data is being used to build valuable artificial intelligence tools | Continue reading
People from Chinese or Western backgrounds reported having different tastes in wines, which may partly come down to the concentrations of their salivary proteins | Continue reading
Forty years ago, a strange, empty shark egg case was found off the coast of Western Australia, and scientists have finally determined the species it belongs to | Continue reading
A VR accessory called JumpMod can make users feel like they are jumping higher or landing harder, just by moving a weight on their back | Continue reading
A test to see whether ChatGPT has memorised the contents of copyrighted material suggests it was trained on passages from Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and many other novels | Continue reading
When looking up at the night sky, light from stars draws attention. But the darkness between the light can reveal even more about the universe, says Nobel prize-winning astrophysicist Adam Riess | Continue reading
An RSV vaccine has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and should be available to people 60 years and older later this year | Continue reading
A series of centipede-inspired robots with different numbers of legs show that the more legs a robot has, the better it is at moving across unpredictable ground | Continue reading
The crop-devastating swarms that locusts form are driven in part by the insects' tricks to avoid being cannibalised – they move around and produce a pheromone to deter other locusts from eating them | Continue reading
Researchers pieced together the genomes of two unknown species of green sulphur bacteria from DNA fragments found in ancient calcified tooth plaque | Continue reading
Black irises have been spotted in gannets that test positive for bird flu antibodies, suggesting they are an indicator that the seabirds have survived an infection with the virus | Continue reading
A tiny microphone designed to replicate the way sound is processed in the inner ear could be used in hearing aids | Continue reading
Heavy rain triggered by climate change is forecast to reduce rice production in China by 8 per cent by the end of the century | Continue reading
The experimental treatment donanemab is now the second antibody drug to slow cognitive decline in people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease, but questions remain about its real-world benefits and safety | Continue reading
From how well they work to side effects such as hair loss, here’s the skinny on new weight loss injections that work by blocking a hormone that normally reduces appetite | Continue reading
A vein of Galen malformation is a condition that can place pressure on a fetus’s heart and lungs and deprive the brain of oxygen. Surgeons corrected this type of blood vessel problem in a fetus for the first time | Continue reading
A vein of Galen malformation is a condition that can place pressure on a fetus’s heart and lungs and deprive the brain of oxygen. Surgeons corrected this type of blood vessel problem in a fetus for the first time | Continue reading
Sound can't normally travel from beneath water's surface to the air above due to a mismatch in densities, but a new material changes that | Continue reading
A programme to increase electric vehicle adoption in California increased air pollution in lower-income communities and communities of colour – groups that are less likely to own electric cars | Continue reading
A programme to increase electric vehicle adoption in California increased air pollution in lower-income communities and communities of colour – groups that are less likely to own electric cars | Continue reading
A rise in antisocial behaviour indicates covid-19 lockdowns disrupted our cultural evolution, says Jonathan R. Goodman | Continue reading
A radical new proposal wants the world to sign up to a deal to halt development of new oil, gas and coal fields. It is already backed by thousands of scientists and more than 70 city governments, says Graham Lawton | Continue reading
Our Fragile Space, an exhibition from photographer Max Alexander, focuses on the impact of the millions of pieces of cosmic waste circling Earth | Continue reading
Simulation-style city builders like SimCity have tended to mirror US urban living. Terra Nil, the latest of a new and very different wave of builder games, puts nature first, says Jacob Aron | Continue reading
If you want your cup of tea to stay as hot as possible, should you put milk in immediately, or wait until you are ready to drink it? Katie Steckles does the sums | Continue reading
Greater awareness of everything from chronic pain to neurodiversity chips away at the stigma people face. With good research, and an open mind, we can make sure people get the right help | Continue reading
Domestic cats are a paradox, argues biologist Jonathan B. Losos in a book that delves into their origins and the emerging science of feline behaviour | Continue reading