A lightweight liquid metal alloy that is less dense than water could be used to make exoskeletons and transformable flexible robots | Continue reading
We know some birds use fluorescent pigments to enhance the brightness of their feathers or beaks – and now it seems some dinosaurs might have done this too | Continue reading
A needle-free device that uses a laser-powered jet to force medicine into the skin at high speed could one day lead to painless injections | Continue reading
Honeywell, the same company that might make your humidifier or home security system, is unveiling a powerful quantum computer that will be available to the public | Continue reading
It is possible to passively smoke in places where smoking is banned, because harmful tobacco chemicals remain on people’s bodies and clothes and in the air | Continue reading
No planet B | My car is draining my finances and harming the planet, so I am finally giving it up. Though it will be difficult to adjust, you should consider doing it as well, writes Graham Lawton | Continue reading
After finding out she was autistic, Siena Castellon sparked a global school movement that celebrates neurodiversity, which now includes nearly half a million students | Continue reading
This pink manta ray, nicknamed Clouseau, has resurfaced off Australia’s coast. No one knows why it has a bubble-gum pink underside or if there are others out there | Continue reading
By closely tracking how cancer cells evolve in our bodies, we can identify their hidden weaknesses and find powerful new ways to treat tumours | Continue reading
It’s 2038 and Earth's trees are dead, bar some firs on a tiny island. The tale of what happened is an epic combining sci-if, mystery and an exposé of capitalism, says Sally Adee | Continue reading
To make your own sourdough bread, you need to create an environment where wild yeast and bacteria want to hang out. Sam Wong explains how | Continue reading
Julia Ebner infiltrated the hidden forums that extremists use. Her experiences lay bare how they hijack social media and video games to spread hate – and how to beat them | Continue reading
The second season of podcast The Dream debunks much of the wellness industry, but creating empathy for the people caught up in it is where the show shines | Continue reading
In an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus, China has shut its wildlife markets for good. It is a welcome move, says Adam Vaughan | Continue reading
Desert ants zigzag around the searing sand at high speed but they always manage to find their way home. A new book explains their amazing abilities | Continue reading
Astronomers have spotted an asteroid that has been captured by Earth's gravity, making it a temporary mini-moon. It will probably fly away again in April | Continue reading
The UK’s Department of Health and Social Care’s plan to report the locations of new cases of covid-19 only once a week may lead to more panic | Continue reading
Australia’s recent devastating bushfires were made more likely by human-made climate change, an international team of scientists has found | Continue reading
Scientists have warned the world will have to reduce carbon emissions to net zero sooner than 2050 as tropical forests are losing their ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere | Continue reading
Clothes that light up by themselves could be a high-tech replacement to high-visibility gear worn by cyclists and construction workers | Continue reading
SARS and MERS gave us ample warning of the risk of new coronaviruses, but we failed to set up sufficient defences against covid-19 and other infections | Continue reading
Multiple outbreaks of the covid-19 virus worldwide have led to countries stepping up their responses, but the virus may already be spreading in the US | Continue reading
We have finally found time cells in the human brain – they help explain how we recall when events happened, and they could be a target for Alzheimer’s therapies | Continue reading
The flooding of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in 2016 raised concerns over the future of seed backups in a warming world – so Norway made €20 million of upgrades to the facility | Continue reading
A prominent scientific journal has retracted a study that pinned the cause of climate change on the changing distance between Earth and the sun | Continue reading
Our images of deep space are spectacular, but don’t reflect what our eyes would see. Here's what their stunning true colours reveal about the cosmos | Continue reading
The bell of an upside-down jellyfish has structures that can provide a scaffold for growing human skin cells, which could be used to help repair wounds after surgery or a bad burn | Continue reading
Silver has an antibacterial effect by stopping the motors that bacteria use to move around from working properly and making them move more slowly | Continue reading
A team of researchers say they have discovered a protein molecule inside a meteorite, the first extraterrestrial example ever found, but others are sceptical | Continue reading
Durian fruits, famous for their bad smell, could be used to make electrodes in ultra-fast chargers for electric cars and gadgets | Continue reading
Honeywell, the same company that might make your humidifier or home security system, is unveiling a powerful quantum computer that will be available to the public | Continue reading
Honeywell, the same company that might make your humidifier or home security system, is unveiling a powerful quantum computer that will be available to the public | Continue reading
The UK government has published a 27-page document detailing how the country will respond to a growing covid-19 outbreak. Police and health workers may be restricted to urgent duties | Continue reading
A poll of 1400 UK citizens reveals that 40 per cent are worried about climate change, up from 19 per cent in 2016 – and about a quarter cited climate change as the UK’s top issue | Continue reading
A shared mutation in the covid-19 virus from two infected people who had no contact suggests the coronavirus has been quietly spreading in the US for weeks | Continue reading
Flying car hopefuls were meant to take off at a competition on a NASA airbase, but no team claimed the prize after a string of crashes and no-shows | Continue reading
Adrian Tchaikovsky's latest novel The Doors of Eden rewrites Earth's evolutionary history, with highlights including fish that upload their minds to supercomputers and cats that rule over primates | Continue reading
Adrian Tchaikovsky's latest novel The Doors of Eden rewrites Earth's evolutionary history, with highlights including fish that upload their minds to supercomputers and cats that rule over primates | Continue reading
Watching brain activity in fish as they try to “swim” in virtual reality helps us understand their perception abilities and how they interact with other animals | Continue reading
White dwarf stars are common in the galaxy, but astronomers have found one that doesn't seem to obey the rules. They think it was born when two smaller white dwarfs merged together | Continue reading
We are starting to understand how the covid-19 virus affects people in different ways, depending on their age and underlying health conditions | Continue reading
Everything from genetic tests to immigration numbers is full of shaky statistics. David Spiegelhalter's new podcast helps separate the factual from the flaky | Continue reading
Everything from genetic tests to immigration numbers is full of shaky statistics. David Spiegelhalter's new podcast helps separate the factual from the flaky | Continue reading
Financial markets around the world have suffered their worst week since the 2008 financial crash, as the economic impact of the coronavirus edging towards a pandemic becomes clearer | Continue reading
New Scientist went to meet a robot programmed to mimic obsessive-compulsive disorder to find out what it could teach us about the condition | Continue reading
A major United Nations biodiversity summit to negotiate plans to stop the loss of species around the world could be moved from China because of the coronavirus outbreak | Continue reading
Two analyses suggest earlier studies overestimated CO2 emissions due to the massive growth in internet traffic and video streaming, but they are still substantial | Continue reading
Financial markets around the world have suffered their worst week since the 2008 financial crash, as the economic impact of the coronavirus edging towards a pandemic becomes clearer | Continue reading