The plot of sci-fi movie Little Joe may sound like it plays to powerful 1990s anti-GM fears but bigger issues like human freedom may really be at stake | Continue reading
This image of an enormous ship under construction features in a new book and show that challenge common ideas about beauty - while the real ship may help cut carbon emissions | Continue reading
As the coronavirus outbreak continues, why do some people stockpile and others shrug? The psychology of uncertainty explains what's going on, says Rachel McCloy | Continue reading
TikTok's rise has been meteoric. With more than 3 million people a day now downloading the app, its success is down to more than just luck | Continue reading
Twitter used to be full of cat memes and had a culture of sharing. Now, I pay a company to make sure my presence on the site is extremely limited, writes Annalee Newitz | Continue reading
The data centres servicing our beloved digital devices gobble huge amounts of electricity. A new way to think about heat and energy could help us meet growing demand without burning through the world's resources | Continue reading
People who argue that covid-19 is no bigger a problem than flu ignore the fact that we lack natural immunity and have no vaccines in our armoury | Continue reading
By understanding garlic's chemistry we can amp up its pungency in a fiery garlic sauce or tame it through gentle cooking to make mellow garlic confit, says Sam Wong | Continue reading
Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac led the 2015 Paris climate negotiations. They tell us why they’re hopeful for the future, and explain how fighting climate change is “the most exciting experiment in history” | Continue reading
As cases outside China have risen thirteenfold in the past two weeks, the World Health Organization says covid-19 outbreak can now be characterised as pandemic | Continue reading
As the number of covid-19 cases escalates, six potential vaccines are in development, and a range of drugs that could block the virus are being tested in China | Continue reading
Psychologists say that closing schools and restricting movement too early could lead to "crisis fatigue", meaning people begin ignoring rules designed to stop the coronavirus spreading | Continue reading
A self-powered device that generates electricity from the wind can also absorb and break down harmful nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide from the air | Continue reading
Exoplanet WASP-76b, which is about 390 light years from the solar system, has a strange iron signature in its atmosphere, suggesting the metal is raining down on the planet's night side | Continue reading
A new species of dinosaur has been named from a skull measuring only 1.4 centimetres across. The dinosaur was smaller than any living bird today | Continue reading
It might seem confusing that estimates of number of fatalities caused by the new coronavirus range widely, but that's because there is no one fixed death rate | Continue reading
The UK chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a £30 billion package of measures to offset the economic effects of the the coronavirus outbreak, along with more funds for green measures | Continue reading
Test kit hitches, regulatory issues, restrictive guidelines and health insurance costs have all got in the way of testing for the covid-19 virus in the US | Continue reading
Efforts to prevent prisoners from reoffending are often lacking in scientific rigour and can even fly in the face of available evidence | Continue reading
Does pounding the pavement damage your joints? Can you get away with just walking? Sports engineer Steve Haake pits running against walking and dispels some abiding myths | Continue reading
Robots are being developed to help with tasks like fixing the sea cages where fish are farmed, and their size seems to be all that affects how the fish react | Continue reading
Brazil’s yellow cururu toads eat scorpions, and they can survive five times the dose of scorpion venom that would kill a mouse – the same as 10 stings | Continue reading
Brazil’s yellow cururu toads eat scorpions, and they can survive five times the dose of scorpion venom that would kill a mouse – the same as 10 stings | Continue reading
Some bacteria sacrifice themselves when their colony is attacked by rivals, to save their relatives and make sure their shared genes are passed on | Continue reading
An analysis of a classic Monty Python sketch suggests the Minister of Silly Walks has a walking style 6.7 times more variable, or silly, than normal walking | Continue reading
Experts still don't know why so few coronavirus cases have been reported in Africa, despite the continent’s large population and China being its top trading partner | Continue reading
The Italian government has put the entire population of 60 million people on lockdown. People must limit travel except for work or medical reasons, or risk prison or a fine | Continue reading
A fossil of a predatory reptile from the dinosaur era is missing the front of its jaws, suggesting it was attacked by a rival that bit them off | Continue reading
A robot can recreate the mechanism plants use to transport water to bend itself towards the sun and open its leaves like a real plant | Continue reading
Switching to burning hydrogen in UK homes has been suggested to help cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, but a leaked report says that could risk increased air pollution | Continue reading
People who have the new coronavirus are more likely to die if they are older or show signs of sepsis or blood clotting problems, suggests a study of patients in two Wuhan hospitals | Continue reading
A leading theory for the formation of the moon is that a planet called Theia smashed into the early Earth, but doubts remain. Now a new analysis of lunar rock supports this idea | Continue reading
A temporary coronavirus hospital ward in China is being staffed entirely by robots. Around 200 patients with mild symptoms will be fed and treated by machines, while medical staff issue commands from outside | Continue reading
A secret US Navy project known only as CLAWS will equip armed robot submarines with sensors and algorithms enabling them to destroy targets without explicit human control | Continue reading
Westworld is soon to return with season three. Four episodes in to the impossibly glamorous, highly urbanised future, I can't wait to find out what's going on, writes Emily Wilson | Continue reading
A secret US Navy project known only as CLAWS will equip armed robot submarines with sensors and algorithms enabling them to destroy targets without explicit human control | Continue reading
A huge black hole from when the universe was less than a billion years old is shooting a powerful jet at Earth, and studying it could help us understand the young cosmos | Continue reading
Think you might be infected with coronavirus? Here's what to do and how the test works | Continue reading
Donor livers are increasingly not being used for transplants because they have too much fat. Hooking them up to a machine for a crash treatment could solve that | Continue reading
In the early universe, particles called neutrinos had a starring role in determining where galaxy clusters formed and which elements were created when stars exploded | Continue reading
Switching to burning hydrogen in UK homes has been suggested to help cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, but a leaked report says that could risk increased air pollution | Continue reading
Lettuce grown on the International Space Station has been served with tacos and cheeseburgers, and it turns out to be just as nutritious as the Earth-grown version | Continue reading
SpaceX is partnering with a US start-up called Axiom Space to launch three space tourists on a ten-day trip to the International Space Station | Continue reading
Out of 28,000 suggestions, NASA selected the name Perseverance for its Mars 2020 rover, which will search for signs of life on the Red Planet | Continue reading
Researchers in China say there are two strains of the new coronavirus, one of which is more aggressive – but the World Health Organization says the virus is stable | Continue reading
Skull fragments from Homo erectus found alongside stone tools in Ethiopia suggest the ancient hominin used more tool technology than we thought | Continue reading
Skull fragments from Homo erectus found alongside stone tools in Ethiopia suggest the ancient hominin used more tool technology than we thought | Continue reading
A mixture of two carbon-based chemicals can spontaneously form molecules that can copy themselves, hinting at how life may have begun on Earth | Continue reading