- + US reports first human death related to bird flu—A person in Louisiana who became severely ill with a bird flu virus known as H5N1 in December has passed away from the infection, marking the first kn...
- + Wastewater treatment plants funnel PFAS into drinking water—Wastewater treatment plants in the US may discharge enough “forever chemicals” to raise concentrations in drinking water above the safe limit for mill...
- + Lead pollution across the Roman Empire would have caused IQ deficits—Lead records from Arctic glaciers indicate that people all over Europe would have been affected by pollution from metal smelting during the Roman era
- + AI uses throat vibrations to work out what someone is trying to say—Throat vibrations made by people who find it difficult to speak, such as after a stroke, can be analysed by AI and used to create sentences
- + The problems with Dry January – and what you could try doing instead—Many people decide to give up alcohol during January. But is this actually helpful in the long-term and are there better, easier ways to change our dr...
- + Pluto may have captured its moon Charon with a brief kiss—Simulations suggest Pluto and its largest moon may have gently stuck together for a few hours before Charon settled into a stable orbit around the dwa...
- + Secrets of velvet ant's venom explain what makes its sting so painful—A velvet ant sting is like “hot oil spilling over your hand” – now, scientists have identified molecules in its venom that let it deliver excruciating...
- + 5 graphs that show how the world suddenly changed when covid-19 hit—From carbon emissions to the share prize of videoconferencing firm Zoom, these graphs tell the story of how the covid-19 pandemic changed everything
- + Permafrost thaw beneath Arctic lakes poses surprise pollution threat—Deep sediments under Arctic lakes could release large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, adding to the threat of runaway climate change
- + Electric fields could mine rare earth metals with less harm—Smartphones, electric vehicles and wind turbines rely on environmentally destructive rare earth mining operations. Harnessing electric fields could ma...
- + Global treaty is failing to curb ultra-potent greenhouse gas emissions—Countries have pledged to phase out HFC-23, a powerful greenhouse gas, but atmospheric data shows that emissions are five times higher than government...
- + Climate change may have killed ancient 'hobbit' hominins—Homo floresiensis, a metre-tall ancient hominin, lived on the South Pacific island of Flores and hunted dwarf elephants until about 50,000 years ago –...
- + US teens are using less of every substance – except for one—Teenagers in the US roughly doubled their use of nicotine pouches in 2024, despite turning away from alcohol and other drugs
- + Glowing biological quantum sensor could track how cells form—A quantum sensor based on a protein from bioluminescent jellyfish can be made by the body itself and it may be able to help us track how cells form or...
- + Crystal-based cooling could make fridges more sustainable—A new type of crystal that absorbs heat when released from extreme pressure could lead to climate-friendly refrigerators and air conditioners
- + Delicate robot hands know just how hard to squeeze—A robotic hand uses fingertip sensors and AI to determine how firmly to grip before closing in on an object, overcoming a persistent problem for prost...
- + AI chatbots fail to diagnose patients by talking with them—Although popular AI models score highly on medical exams, their accuracy drops significantly when making a diagnosis based on a conversation with a si...
- + The key events during the covid-19 pandemic—Many dates stick in our minds as we reflect on five years of living with covid-19 - here are some of the most memorable ones
- + Will there be another pandemic after covid-19 and are we prepared?—Covid-19 is responsible for the deaths of millions of people around the world, but researchers fear the next global outbreak could be even worse, maki...
- + Everything we know about long covid - including how to reduce the risk—Some people have been living with long covid for five years, but we are still just starting to learn about its exact causes and how best to treat the ...
- + The most iconic images taken during the covid-19 pandemic—Many emotive and inspiring photographs were taken when covid-19 turned our lives upside down – here are some of the best pictures from the past five y...
- + The big unanswered questions about the covid-19 coronavirus—Despite studying the SARS-CoV-2 virus for five years, scientists still have questions, from the extent to which it can survive and mutate in animals t...
- + Five years on, have we learned the lessons of covid-19?—Science initially struggled to match the pace of the pandemic, leaving people unclear of the best ways to stay safe from the virus, but now we know so...
- + People ate lots of foxes and wildcats 10,000 years ago—Foxes and cats weren’t just caught for their pelts, hint cut marks and burns on bones found at a site in Israel
- + Blinking may give your brain a micro break during cognitive tasks—When reading a book, we tend to blink over less familiar words, which suggests it may have a cognitive role
- + Physicists bend atoms in ‘impossible’ experiment—Entire atoms have been put through a classic quantum experiment for the first time and the breakthrough could lead to better detectors for picking up ...
- + Food made without farming will go on sale in the US in 2025—Several start-ups are preparing to launch new foods made without plants, animals or soil, claiming that their products have a lower environmental impa...
- + IBM will release the largest ever quantum computer in 2025—Following successful early demonstrations of linking two quantum computing chips, IBM is aiming to break records for the largest quantum computer yet ...
- + Ancient checked dress may be Europe's oldest two-colour garment—Textile fragments found in a 2800-year-old grave in the Netherlands were once part of a woven dress with a red and blue checked pattern, molecular ana...
- + Will miners finally start harvesting metals from the seabed in 2025?—The international community seems no closer to an agreement on a code for deep-sea mining in international waters and the impasse may lead to countrie...
- + Ozempic and Wegovy have heart health benefits beyond just weight loss—A study in pigs has shown that the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy directly boosts heart health, in addition to the benefits of losing weight
- + AI-powered avatars can gesture naturally as they speak—An AI model that understands the interplay between human body language, speech and emotion enables digital avatars to move more realistically when spe...
- + Snow days set to disappear across much of the US—By the end of the century, the eastern and southern US may never see deep snow cover the ground, with consequences for water storage as well as for th...
- + Fights over geoengineering experiments will heat up in 2025—There is growing interest in exploring ways to counteract global warming by intervening in the atmosphere and the oceans, but planned trials are highl...
- + Supersonic flight will see a dramatic return in 2025 with new aircraft—Several prototype aircraft that are intended to bring back commercial supersonic travel have been making big strides in recent years – but it is unkno...
- + Mathematicians found – and fixed – an error in a 60-year-old proof—As part of a project to make mathematics machine-readable, mathematicians have discovered an error in an important proof. Thankfully there was a fix, ...
- + Mathematicians found - and fixed - an error in a 60-year-old proof—As part of a project to make mathematics machine-readable, mathematicians have discovered an error in an important proof. Thankfully there was a fix, ...
- + Is Google's approach to error-free quantum computers already outdated?—The coding that forms the basis of Google’s recent breakthrough in error-correcting quantum computers is facing fierce competition
- + Why US obesity rates fell for the first time in decades—After years of rising obesity rates in the US, the numbers dipped slightly during 2023, though experts disagree about the exact cause
- + Dolphins may use their teeth to hear underwater—The teeth of dolphins and other toothed whales are connected to a uniquely thick bundle of nerve fibres, which might play a role in sound detection
- + Quantum entanglement can be endlessly 'embezzled' from quantum fields—Some quantum fields that extend throughout all of space-time could be a rich resource of quantum entanglement that can be extracted forever
- + Newly identified scorpion species ‘spits’ venom to defend itself—A scorpion discovered in South America can spray venom out of its stinger and hit targets up to 35 centimetres away
- + Physicists in 2024 searched the quantum realm for the truth about time—Two separate theoretical studies published this year argued that time itself is bound up in the odd quantum property of entanglement, but deep mysteri...
- + Flying electric taxis look set to finally take off in 2025—Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are on track to start commercial passenger carrying services in 2025, but can they stand out f...
- + Direct CO2 capture from the atmosphere will scale up massively in 2025—A US facility will pull up to 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per year after it opens in 2025 and sell carbon offset credits to large co...
- + Could 2025 be the year we finally start to understand dark energy?—A map of 31 million galaxies created by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument will be released next year, and could shed light on the origins of th...
- + Humanoid robots will march into factories and homes in 2025—A robotic boom could see thousands of humanoid units entering workplaces and more in 2025, but whether they will have staying power remains to be seen
- + COP30 host Brazil aims to get 2025 climate talks back on track—With the next UN climate summit taking place in Belém, Brazil, in 2025, the host nation faces an uphill struggle to encourage more collaboration and a...
- + We'll learn about Ozempic's potential for Alzheimer's disease in 2025—Two later-stage trials investigating semaglutide, the drug in Ozempic, for treating Alzheimer's disease are due to complete in 2025, with potentially ...
- + We could discover a new element on the periodic table in 2025—Work is under way to produce the first atom of element 120 ever seen on Earth, and the results could be in surprisingly soon
- + Disease-resistant pork may go on sale in 2025 thanks to gene editing—US regulators are expected to approve a disease-resistant pig breed in 2025, opening the door to wider adoption of gene-edited farm animals and crops
- + These are all of the missions heading to the moon in 2025—From Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander to SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System, around a dozen spacecraft teams have their sights on the moon
- + The most powerful images of the natural world from 2024—A large number of damaging and deadly hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, floods and droughts this year were photographed from land, air and sp...
- + Monster wildfires are sending more smoke into the stratosphere—Smoke lofted into the upper atmosphere on towering pyrocumulonimbus clouds can spread around the globe and affect the climate
- + Whales may hone their singing skills by practising out of season—The songs of male humpback whales seem to become more complex in the months before they look for a mate, suggesting a rehearsal period may be importan...
- + Mathematicians spent 2024 unravelling proof almost no one understands—The geometric Langlands conjecture poses deep questions for mathematicians, and a 1000-page proof published this year has left them both celebrating a...
- + OpenAI's o3 model aced a test of AI reasoning – but it's still not AGI—The latest AI model from OpenAI achieved an “impressive leap in performance” but it still hasn’t demonstrated what experts classify as human-level int...
- + Is solar geoengineering research having its moment?—There is more research than ever focused on reflecting sunlight away from the planet to cool the climate – but there are still far more questions than...
- + How the US Supreme Court and Trump could stop a TikTok ban—A US ban on the video-sharing app TikTok is set to take effect in early 2025 – but the country's Supreme Court and President-elect Donald Trump could ...
- + Quantum teleportation can survive through busy internet cables—An experiment showing that quantum and classical communication can be carried out through the same fibre at the same time may open the door to buildin...
- + Will an mRNA vaccine target the norovirus strain behind surging cases?—A new type of norovirus is causing a very high number of cases in countries like England, just as a large trial of an mRNA vaccine is starting up
- + NASA’s Mars helicopter was grounded in 2024 after surprise success—The Ingenuity autonomous helicopter surpassed all expectations to fly dozens of missions over several years on the Red Planet, only stopping this year...
- + Hundreds of small websites may shut down due to UK's Online Safety Act—Hundreds of community websites run for fans of everything from cycling to Sunderland AFC may be forced to shut down by the UK's Online Safety Act, whi...
- + Hairy ‘orangutan pitcher plant’ discovered in Borneo—A newly described species of giant pitcher plant is one of the biggest ever found, with leaves covered in fur the same colour as orangutans
- + Stonehenge may have been built to unify people of ancient Britain—Recent findings show that Stonehenge’s stones came from all over Britain – and this offers clues to the monument’s purpose, say archaeologists
- + AI beats human experts at distinguishing American whiskey from Scotch—Using descriptions of flavours or chemical data, artificial intelligence can tell apart whiskies from different countries and identify their constitue...
- + The most inspiring conservation success stories in 2024—Endangered skates and kingfishers were brought back from the brink this year and scientists found a way to protect frogs from deadly infections
- + Genetic tweak to three key crops massively boosts their growth—A simple change to maize, sorghum and sugarcane that allows them to take advantage of rising CO2 levels can boost their growth by around a fifth
- + Is AI finally ready to replace your doctor?—Advances in artificial intelligence mean that machines can now perform certain diagnostic tasks with far better accuracy than human doctors - but the ...
- + How to make the biggest splash in a pool, according to science—Analysing footage of what happens when people jump into water, and using a robot to mimic them, has revealed how do the perfect dive-bomb using a Maor...
- + The best space images from 2024—This year has delivered some awe-inspiring imagery of space, from the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning shots of faraway stars and galaxies to ima...
- + Swarms of tiny robots coordinate to achieve ant-like feats of strength—Small robots directed by magnetic fields can cooperatively lift heavy objects, form floating rafts and push through clogs. They may one day deliver dr...
- + Ultra-thin diamond wafers for electronics made using sticky tape—Electronics made using diamond-based chips would have many advantages, but have been hard to make – a new technique involving sticky tape could change...
- + Ultrathin diamond wafers for electronics made using sticky tape—Electronics made using diamond-based chips would have many advantages, but have been hard to make – a new technique involving sticky tape could change...
- + Ancient hominin Lucy was a lousy runner, simulations show—Researchers have tried to work out how fast Australopithecus afarensis could run by creating a 3D digital robot of the ancient hominin
- + Are quantum computers now advanced enough to need operating systems?—Quantum computing hardware has been progressing rapidly in recent years – and quantum software is following
- + 'Artificial tongue' can detect chemical makeup of alcoholic drinks—Biological nanopore technology revolutionised DNA sequencing – now it has been adapted for analysing alcoholic drinks, providing a quick test for qual...
- + Unified approach could improve nature, climate and health all at once—The biodiversity, climate, health, water and food crises need to be addressed together rather than regarded as separate issues, urges a major report
- + Earth had a temporary mini-moon that was a chunk of the real moon—An asteroid orbiting near our planet that temporarily became our second moon seems to have come from the actual moon, hinting that a hidden population...
- + The most encouraging climate solutions and green technologies of 2024—Renewable energy continued to grow in 2024, and there were other hopeful developments in technologies aiming to reverse the rise in greenhouse gas emi...
- + UK plans to favour AI firms over creators with a new copyright regime—One of the biggest uncertainties in the ongoing AI revolution is whether these systems can legally be trained on copyrighted data. Now, the UK says it...
- + Earliest known sabre-toothed predator hunted 270 million years ago—The fossilised remains of an ancient carnivore provide intriguing hints about how early relatives of mammals began regulating their own body temperatu...
- + The best and weirdest photos of robots from 2024—A long-envisioned futuristic world of humanoid robots doing all the work has yet to arrive, but these startling images reveal some of the surprising w...
- + Is social media fuelling a rise in eating disorders?—Eating disorders have increased - and many are pointing the finger at sites like Instagram and TikTok
- + Plastic chemicals linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide—A review of chemical exposures across 38 countries finds common plastic products are linked to millions of cases of heart disease and thousands of str...
- + Liquid metal particles can self-assemble into electronics—A cheap method for forming the tiny components of chips, such as transistors and diodes, harnesses simple fluid physics to make the electronics self-a...
- + Saturn’s rings may be far older than we thought—The age of the rings that encircle Saturn is under dispute thanks to calculations that show they could have been formed billions – rather than million...
- + From Tesla to Trump, Elon Musk had a very busy 2024—The past 12 months have been packed for the world’s wealthiest person as he has juggled Tesla, X, Neuralink, SpaceX and relations with Donald Trump – ...
- + Butchered bones tell of shocking massacre in prehistoric Britain—At least 37 men, woman and children were brutally murdered in the largest massacre known in Bronze Age Britain, possibly in a performance of ritualist...
- + ‘Vampire’ hedgehog among 234 new species identified in Asia—The Greater Mekong region of Asia hosts a wealth of rare and unstudied species – 173 new species of plants, 26 reptiles, 17 amphibians, 15 fish and th...
- + Are vast amounts of hydrogen fuel hidden below Earth's surface?—Geologists estimate Earth contains several trillion tonnes of natural hydrogen that could be used as a clean fuel, but a global search for large reser...
- + Mpox became a global health emergency for the second time in 2024—Surging mpox cases in East, West and Central Africa prompted the World Health Organization to once again make the infection a global health emergency
- + Eight healthy habits could slow the ageing of your brain—From not smoking to maintaining a healthy weight, there are many healthy habits that could help keep your brain young
- + Why AI must learn to admit ignorance and say 'I don't know'—The ability to admit ignorance could be a sign of truly intelligent AI, and a new quiz of unsolved or perhaps even unsolvable questions aims to put th...
- + Over 70 per cent of students in US survey use AI for school work—Many children in the US seem to be using a chatbot to help them with their work, despite the risks of errors and often in defiance of school rules
- + The US Navy wants to use quantum computers for war games and much more—The US Navy has many tasks it wants quantum devices to tackle, from setting maintenance schedules to enabling nearly unhackable communication
- + The sun may spit out giant solar flares more often than we thought—A survey of more than 56,000 sun-like stars reveals that “superflares” that could play havoc with electronics on Earth may happen every 100 to 200 yea...
- + Ancient genomes reveal when modern humans and Neanderthals interbred—The oldest genomes ever recovered from modern humans have helped pin down when and how the momentous mingling of two hominins played out
- + What are the mystery drones flying over the US?—Large drones have been spotted flying over the US for weeks, and state and federal officials say they still have no idea who is behind the flights
- + Magic mushrooms found in Africa are a species new to science—A fungus named Psilocybe ochraceocentrata is the closest relative of a widely cultivated psychedelic mushroom, giving clues to their evolutionary orig...
- + Global forecast for 2025 sees temperatures falling back below 1.5°C—La Niña conditions are expected to lead to a slightly cooler average global surface temperature in 2025, though it does not mean the planet as a whole...
- + Bowel cancer is rising in younger people around the world—More and more people under 50 have been diagnosed with bowel cancer in different parts of the world over the past few decades
- + Parker Solar Probe will soon go deeper into the sun than ever before—On 24 December, the Parker Solar Probe will be the closest human-made object ever to a star, taking unprecedented measurements of the sun
- + Another record has been set for the most entangled logical qubits—Just a few months after the previous record was set, a start-up called Quantinuum has announced that it has entangled the largest number of logical qu...
- + A festival of stunning animal pictures from 2024—The past 12 months have seen animals of all shapes, sizes and colours strut their stuff – here are just a few of the best pictures from the year
- + The Anthropocene was officially spurned in 2024, but the idea lives on—Geologists surprisingly declined to formally declare a new epoch, but proponents of the Anthropocene will continue to highlight humanity’s impact on t...
- + Elon Musk's brain-implant firm Neuralink did its first tests in 2024—Neuralink’s first two human trials grabbed headlines this year, but it still isn’t clear how the firm’s technology compares with other brain-computer ...
- + 2024 saw the first living people to receive pig kidney transplants—Three people in the US received a genetically modified pig kidney in 2024, marking another step towards animal-to-human organ transplants becoming rou...
- + Dazzling auroras lit up the skies in 2024 and we may see more in 2025—The northern lights, or aurora borealis, came strangely far south this year and there may be more of the same while the sun is experiencing a solar ma...
- + The shine began to wear off AI in 2024 as advances slowed down—AI made incredible progress in 2023, but with a less-impressive pace of development this year, it may be that existing techniques are reaching their l...
- + Climate chaos accelerated in 2024 as we hit 1.5°C for the first time—2024 was another year of record-breaking heat and extreme weather, including devastating floods, storms and wildfires across the globe
- + Earth may have had its water delivered by a vast cloud of vapour—Rather than getting its water from impacts, our planet may have drawn in water vapour after the sun boiled it off early icy asteroids
- + Liquid metal unlocks a way to make artificial blood vessels—The unusual properties of gallium have helped scientists to create delicate moulds that can be used to grow cultures of human cells resembling tiny bl...
- + Pre-eclampsia could be treated with mRNA technology—Hope for a much-needed treatment for the common pregnancy complication pre-eclampsia has been raised by a successful test of an mRNA therapy in mice
- + Space was for sale in 2024 as private missions led by Elon Musk boomed—From the first private moon landing to the first civilian spacewalk, Elon Musk’s SpaceX helped drive a big year for private space flight
- + Dogs pull harder on the leash when they wear a harness than a collar—Dog harnesses are sometimes claimed to reduce pulling forces on the leash, but an experiment found they have the opposite effect
- + Bird flu suddenly got serious in 2024, infecting dozens of people—People in multiple US states tested positive for bird flu this year, raising concerns about the pandemic potential of the virus
- + Energy-hungry AI is already harming health – and it's getting worse—The electricity required to support AI could contribute to approximately 600,000 asthma cases and create a $20 billion public health burden by 2030
- + Arctic tundra is now a source – not a sink – of carbon emissions—For millennia, Arctic ecosystems have stored more carbon dioxide than they release, but that has shifted as warming temperatures have boosted wildfire...
- + Ultracold atoms measure gravity with surprising precision—Atoms cooled to near absolute zero let researchers make a measurement of gravity 20 per cent more precise than the standard quantum limit usually allo...
- + Extreme heat may rapidly sap the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2—The ocean carbon sink – which removes about a quarter of our emissions from the atmosphere each year – was much weaker than expected in 2023
- + Game-changing archaeology from the past 5 years – and what’s to come—Leading archaeologists share the biggest recent advances in our understanding of human evolution, and their hopes for the exciting finds the next five...
- + Is Google's new Willow quantum computer really such a big deal?—Google has unveiled a new quantum computer called Willow that excels at a benchmarking problem, but it still isn't clear whether these machines can se...
- + Is Google's new quantum computer a big deal?—Google has unveiled a new quantum computer that excels at a benchmarking problem, but it still isn't clear whether these machines can serve a practica...
- + Thirteen proteins in your blood could reveal the age of your brain—Higher or lower levels of certain proteins in your blood appear to indicate if your brain's age is older than your actual age
- + Mathematicians have figured out the best sofa shape for moving around—The moving sofa problem, which involves negotiating furniture around an awkward hallway, has puzzled mathematicians for decades – but now we have an a...
- + Believing in Santa Claus doesn't make children act nicer at Christmas—You might expect a child's belief in Santa Claus – with his ability to discern whether children have been naughty or nice – would have an impact on th...
- + Chips linked with light could train AI faster while using less energy—A technology that packs more optical fibre connections onto chips could let them transmit 80 times as much information, speeding up AI training and sl...
- + AI found a new way to create quantum entanglement—In a surprise discovery, researchers found a new way to generate quantum entanglement for particles of light, which could make building quantum inform...
- + Screwworm: Why is this flesh-eating parasite making a comeback?—A resurgence of the screwworm parasite in Central America could have a devastating impact on livestock farming, and poses a threat to humans and wildl...
- + Melting permafrost makes 'drunken forests' store less carbon—As the Arctic ground thaws due to climate change, trees are struggling to stay upright – and this slows their growth and makes them store less carbon
- + Mathematicians have discovered a mind-blowing new kind of infinity—It may sound strange, but mathematicians have created an entire ladder of infinities, each larger than the next. Now a new kind of infinity threatens ...
- + Conservationists are collecting semen from endangered wild sharks—Scuba divers will attempt to collect semen from at least nine wild male leopard sharks for the first time, for use in captive breeding programmes aimi...
- + Why scientists scanned giant hailstones in a dentist's office—A high-resolution view of hailstones the size of tennis balls can reveal how they form – and help researchers better forecast which storms will genera...
- + H5N1 bird flu is closer to gaining pandemic potential than we thought—The flu virus currently circulating in birds and dairy cows is already better at infecting people than earlier variants, and a single mutation would a...
- + We finally have an explanation for 2023’s record-breaking temperatures—A decline in low-lying cloud cover means Earth is absorbing more solar radiation, which could explain 0.2°C of missing heat scientists have been strug...
- + Plants laced with a variety of fungi are more popular with bees—Bees visited flowers on plants inoculated with diverse fungi more than plants without this treatment – but not every combination of fungus had the sam...
- + Tencent seems unaffected by US AI chip export ban, research shows—A US ban on exporting high-end chips used for AI development to China doesn't seem to have affected Tencent, as US researchers suggest they may have f...
- + China's Tencent seems to have AI chips banned by US export controls—A US ban on exporting high-end chips used for AI development to China doesn't seem to have affected Tencent, as researchers have found signs of the te...
- + Robotic rat uses AI to befriend real rodents—A robotic wheeled rat that was trained with AI learned how to play and fight with real rodents – and could one day offer companionship to lab rats
- + 'Killer' cells explain differences in immunity between the sexes—Women are more susceptible to autoimmune conditions than men, but also more protected against infections - and we are starting to understand why
- + Implant made with living neurons connects to mouse brains—In a unique demonstration of brain implants that incorporate living cells, the devices were able to connect with the brains of live mice
- + Toddler bones show mammoths were the main food of the first Americans—The bones of a child who died nearly 13,000 years ago suggest that the people who moved from Asia into North America at this time ate a lot of mammoth
- + Mesopotamians felt happiness in their liver and anger in their thighs—An analysis of ancient cuneiform texts suggests people thought of emotions in a different way almost 3000 years ago, showing how culture influences ou...
- + DeepMind AI predicts weather more accurately than existing forecasts—The latest weather forecasting AI model from Google DeepMind can beat the leading providers more than 97 per cent of the time, and it is quicker and c...
- + Flying robot leaps upwards and then takes to the air like a bird—A bird-inspired robot called RAVEN can walk, hop and jump into flight, an ability that could help people develop fixed-wing drones that can take off a...
- + New forms of animals made by fusing several comb jellies together—Parts from dozens of different individual comb jellies have been fused together to create strange new animals unlike anything seen before
- + These are the most mind-melting physics discoveries of 2024—We collected some of the wildest physics that New Scientist covered in 2024, findings that are forcing scientists – and us – to rethink reality
- + These are most mind-melting physics discoveries of 2024—We collected some of the wildest physics that New Scientist covered in 2024, findings that are forcing scientists – and us – to rethink reality
- + A small asteroid hit Earth and burned up over Siberia—Astronomers spotted a 70-centimetre asteroid hours before it hit the atmosphere above northern Siberia, making a fireball in the sky
- + An asteroid will dramatically burn up in Earth's atmosphere today—Astronomers have spotted a 70-centimetre asteroid that is set to hit the atmosphere above northern Siberia at 4.15 pm GMT, making a fireball in the sk...
- + When, and where, did the covid-19 pandemic really begin?—Covid-19 emerged in 2019, but some questions are still unanswered as to its origins
- + Chatbot gives medical advice to hundreds of users in largest trial yet—Users of the healthcare app Alan whose queries were answered by a medical AI reported high satisfaction levels, but one exchange included "potentially...
- + Temporary scalp tattoo can be used to record brain activity—EEG recordings used in neurology could be made simpler by replacing the usual electrodes, wires and gels with a tattoo printed onto the scalp
- + Antarctica is in crisis and we are scrambling to understand its future—The last two years have seen unprecedented falls in the levels of sea ice around Antarctica, which serves as a protective wall for the continent's hug...
- + Most comprehensive picture yet of how organs age at different rates—Our organs don't seem to age at the same rate, which could mean healthy habits are particularly important at certain times of our lives
- + Heatwaves are surpassing the extremes predicted by climate models—Comparing historical heat extremes with climate simulations has revealed that in parts of the world the models are underestimating how extreme heatwav...
- + Swarms of cyborg cockroaches could be manufactured by robots—Robotic equipment can implant electrodes into cockroaches and connect them to an electronic backpack, making it feasible to mass-produce biorobots for...
- + Life on Mars could be surviving in an area deep underground—The Acidalia Planitia region of the Red Planet might have all the requirements for methane-burping bacteria to exist beneath the surface
- + Life on Mars could be thriving in an area deep underground—The Acidalia Planitia region of the Red Planet might have all the requirements for methane-burping bacteria to exist beneath the surface
- + The way Cheerios stick together has inspired a new kind of robot—Tiny robots designed to carry out environmental or industrial tasks could be powered by tricks involving surface tension
- + Ancient footprints show how early human species lived side by side—Footprints preserved on the shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya seem to be from two ancient human species, showing they lived there at the same time about ...
- + Social media algorithms can change your views in just a single day—The content you see on social media is often determined by an algorithm - and it turns out that these algorithms can rapidly change your views
- + AI can analyse a decomposing body to help pinpoint the time of death—Determining when someone died based on their decomposing body is a subjective task, but artificial intelligence could bring some objectivity to the pr...
- + A little bit of fear can bring down levels of inflammation in the body—Feeling scared seems to reduce elevated levels of inflammation, which may help explain why some people enjoy a haunted attraction
- + A little bit of fear can bring down high levels of inflammation—Feeling scared seems to reduce elevated levels of inflammation, which may help explain why some people enjoy a haunted attraction
- + Bird flu may be adapting to become more infectious to humans—Three people in North America without known animal exposures have tested positive for the bird flu virus H5N1, and samples from two of them suggest th...
- + Ocean acidification is reaching deeper waters—Rising carbon dioxide levels are driving an increase in the ocean’s acidity – and this change is sinking deeper as emissions increase, putting even mo...
- + Robot balloons are snapping centimetre-resolution photos of the US—Near Space Labs’s autonomous balloon fleet is already taking high-resolution images of the ground, and its range will expand to the entire continental...
- + How could Ukraine stop Russia’s new Oreshnik missile?—Russia’s new ballistic missile flies on a high arc out of Earth’s atmosphere and releases multiple high-speed projectiles, making it challenging but n...
- + Fossilised droppings tell the story of dinosaurs' rise to power—An analysis of hundreds of bromalites – fossilised faeces and vomit – shows how changes in diet enabled dinosaurs to take over the world in the early ...
- + Record-breaking diamond storage can save data for millions of years—Researchers have used lasers to encode information in diamonds, demonstrating record-breaking data density in an ultra-stable and long-lasting system
- + How safe is the US food supply?—Food in the US has a bad rap thanks to outbreaks caused by bacteria, plus processing, additives and food dyes, but the food supply is actually much le...
- + Changing a single number among billions can destroy an AI model—Today's huge AI models are composed of several billion numbers known as weights and changing just one of them can destroy their ability to function, l...
- + Orcas have begun wearing salmon hats again – and we may soon know why—About 40 years ago, researchers noticed a population of orcas had begun swimming around with dead fish on their heads, and now the craze is back
- + Forest schools don't actually boost most children's mental health—Swapping classrooms for the woods doesn't appear to improve most children's mental health, but they may still enjoy it
- + Super-bright black holes could reveal if the universe is pixelated—Space-time may not be continuous but instead made up of many discrete bits – and we may be able to see their effects near the edges of unusually brigh...
- + Salt batteries are finally shaping up – that's good for the planet—With lithium in short supply, sodium-ion batteries might offer cheap energy storage with less environmental impact
- + What will it take to solve our planet's plastic pollution crisis?—Countries are meeting in South Korea this week to hash out the final details of a global treaty aimed at eliminating plastic pollution — here's what e...
- + Older people may have better immunity against bird flu virus—Most people born before 1968 have antibodies against flu viruses similar to the H5N1 strain circulating today, which might lower their risk of severe ...
- + This start-up is removing carbon from a polluted New York City river—Projects to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by making the oceans less acidic are popping up all over the world – New Scientist visited one i...
- + Why gene editors want to treat fetuses when they are still in the womb—Gene editing in the womb could be more effective than the same treatment after birth, as it is easier to deliver the necessary genetic machinery to fe...
- + Anger over COP29 finance deal threatens progress on carbon cuts—A reluctant deal finalised at the COP29 climate summit isn't generous enough to encourage nations to submit more ambitious climate plans, delegates wa...
- + Exploding interstellar space rocks could explain mystery radio flashes—Enigmatic phenomena called fast radio bursts might be caused by interstellar objects colliding with highly magnetised neutron stars
- + Hunter-gatherers built a massive fish trap in Belize 4000 years ago—Earthen channels that span more than 640 kilometres show that pre-Mayan Mesoamericans built large-scale fish-trapping facilities earlier than previous...
- + Meteorite crystals show evidence of hot water on ancient Mars—A rock that formed around 4.5 billion years ago on Mars before being blasted into space by a meteor strike and making its way to Earth contains tellta...
- + Risk algorithm used widely in US courts is harsher than human judges—When deciding whether to let people await trial at home or in jail, US judges can use a risk score algorithm. But it often makes harsher recommendatio...
- + Bacteria found in asteroid sample – but they're not from space—The unexpected discovery of microbial life in a piece of rock from an asteroid shows how hard it is to avoid contaminating samples brought back to Ear...
- + Crushed rocks outpace giant fans in race to remove CO2 from air—New technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are growing in scale –though their effect on the climate remains negligible
- + Majority of people believe their devices spy on them to serve up ads—There is no evidence that advertisers use covert recordings of conversations to target people with adverts, an accusation widely denied by the industr...
- + What to know about creatine, the gym supplement with wide benefits—Creatine is commonly associated with athletes and bodybuilders, but the popular supplement seems to have broad benefits on everything from ageing to b...
- + Common chemical in drinking water hasn't been tested for safety—Chloramine is used as a disinfectant in drinking water systems from the US to Australia. Research now shows it breaks down into a compound that may ha...
- + Worm-like fossil is the oldest ancestor of spiders and crustaceans—Arthropods belong to an evolutionary branch – the ecdysozoa – that contains about half of all animal species, and the earliest fossil evidence of the ...
- + Chimpanzees seem to get more technologically advanced through culture—Groups of wild chimpanzees with more complex tool-using behaviours tend to be genetically linked, providing evidence for cumulative culture in other a...
- + Brainwave experiment shows minke whales have ultrasonic hearing—In the first hearing test of live baleen whales, the animals detected much higher frequency sounds than expected, forcing researchers to reconsider ho...
- + World's thinnest spaghetti won't please gourmands but may heal wounds—Spaghetti strands that are 200 times thinner than a human hair could be woven into bandages to help prevent infections
- + Iceland’s Reykjanes volcanic eruption captured in stunning drone shots—A new volcanic eruption has occurred on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula, the seventh this year
- + A sliver of lab-grown wood has been made from stem cells—Growing wood directly from stem cells could offer an alternative to cutting threatened hardwood trees, but it isn't clear if it has same properties as...
- + We've taken a photo of a star in another galaxy for the first time—Using four telescopes linked together, astronomers have captured an astonishing image of a huge star more than 160,000 light years away
- + Nectar-loving Ethiopian wolves may be the first carnivore pollinators—Endangered Ethiopian wolves feed on the nectar of red hot poker plants, and may transport pollen from flower to flower as they do so
- + Robotic pigeon reveals how birds fly without a vertical tail fin—A flying robot uses its bird-like tail to maintain stability in flight – a technique that could enable more aerodynamic aircraft designs that use less...
- + AI simulations of 1000 people accurately replicate their behaviour—Using GPT-4o, the model behind ChatGPT, researchers have replicated the personality and behaviour of more than 1000 people, in an effort to create an ...
- + Planet 10 times the size of Earth is one of the youngest ever found—A large planet has been spotted orbiting a dwarf star that is just 3 million years old, offering possible clues to how the worlds in our solar system ...
- + IBM entangled two quantum chips to work together for the first time—IBM has bet big on a modular approach to building quantum computers, and now it has successfully linked two quantum chips together to operate as a sin...
- + Google DeepMind AI can expertly fix errors in quantum computers—Quantum computers could get a boost from artificial intelligence, thanks to a model created by Google DeepMind that cleans up quantum errors
- + Are calories on menus doing more harm than good?—Many restaurants in countries such as England and the US now print calories on their menus, but some researchers question whether this is really tackl...
- + See the sun revealed in stunning glory by Solar Orbiter pictures—The best pictures we have of the sun yet have been delivered thanks to the Solar Orbiter spacecraft
- + Being in space makes it harder for astronauts to think quickly—The effects of being in space can worsen an astronaut's working memory, processing speed and attention - which could be a problem for future missions
- + Einstein’s theories tested on the largest scale ever – he was right—Analysis of millions of galaxies upholds Albert Einstein’s ideas about gravity and also offers tantalising new hints of how dark energy may have evolv...
- + Starship live: Watch Musk launch sixth Starship test as Trump attends—Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing for the sixth test flight of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket. It aims to conduct the launch at 4pm Central ...
- + Starship launch 6: What time is today's flight test scheduled for?—Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing for the sixth test flight of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket. It aims to conduct the launch at 4pm Central ...
- + World's new fastest supercomputer is built to simulate nuclear bombs—The vast computational power of the El Capitan supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will be used to support the US nu...
- + Heart-shaped mollusc has windows that work like fibre optics—Tiny, solid windows in the shells of heart cockles let in light for the photosynthetic algae inside them – and they could show us how to make better f...
- + Quantum computers hit a crucial milestone for error-free calculation—The largest number of logical qubits has been linked through quantum entanglement, which is a key step towards quantum computers that can detect and c...
- + A giant hornet from Asia has appeared in Europe for the first time—Four southern giant hornets have been identified in northern Spain, leading to concerns that the species could harm native insects if it becomes wides...
- + Wild cavefish can somehow survive with almost no sleep at all—Several populations of Mexican tetra fish that live in darkness have independently evolved to need hardly any sleep, but the reason why is a mystery
- + AI maths assistant could help solve problems that humans are stuck on—Most mathematicians have been reluctant to start working with artificial intelligence, but a new tool developed by researchers at Meta may change that
- + We may have solved the mystery of what froze Earth's inner core—A supercomputer simulation of iron and carbon atoms in Earth’s inner core may explain how a molten ball at the centre of our planet froze solid
- + Quantum time crystals could be used to store energy—The weird thermodynamics found in time crystals could be harnessed to store energy in a quantum battery-like device
- + We're starting to understand why some people regain weight they lost—Changes to the structure of DNA within fat cells may be why it is often so hard to keep weight off after you have lost it
- + Countries are cheating their way to net zero by overrelying on forests—Leading researchers warn that relying on "passive" carbon sinks such as forests to absorb ongoing carbon emissions will doom the world to continued wa...
- + Vital Atlantic Ocean current is already weakening due to melting ice—A study modelling the impact of melting ice suggests scientists have underestimated the risk that an important ocean current will shut down and cause ...
- + Evidence is growing that microbes in your mouth contribute to cancer—The oral microbiome is increasingly being linked to head and neck cancer, but we don't yet understand its exact role
- + Australia wants to ban social media for under-16s, but it won't work—Attempts to prevent Australian children from accessing social media are likely to fail, and could do more harm than good
- + AI models work together faster when they speak their own language—Letting AI models communicate with each other in their internal mathematical language, rather than translating back and forth to English, could accele...
- + Satellites spot methane leaks – but ‘super-emitters’ don’t fix them—Governments and companies almost never take action when satellites alert them about large methane leaks coming from oil and gas infrastructure
- + COP29 host Azerbaijan faces climate disaster as Caspian Sea dries up—Water levels in the Caspian Sea are set to fall dramatically as the climate gets hotter, posing a major threat to economic activity and ecosystems in ...
- + A 200-year-old mystery about newts has finally been solved—A genetic flaw dooms half of all crested newts to die before they hatch – now we know how this baffling evolutionary quirk came about
- + A unique pair of galactic lenses may help solve a cosmological riddle—Two massive galaxies are bending light from the same distant quasar, creating a so-called Einstein zigzag lens that could help astronomers pin down ho...
- + How we misunderstood what the Lucy fossil reveals about ancient humans—It has been 50 years since archaeologists discovered Lucy, perhaps the most famous ancient hominin ever found. But the scientists who have studied her...
- + There's a new twist on the famous invisible gorilla psychology study—A classic study found that people can fail to notice a gorilla when they are focusing on something else, but new experiments suggest this "inattention...
- + Weight-loss medications may also ease chronic pain—Popular semaglutide-based drugs used for weight loss may reduce chronic and acute pain, which could make them a promising alternative to opioids
- + Plumes of pollution from big factories can make it snow—Satellite images reveal that when conditions are right, the pollution from industrial hotspots can cause snow to fall downwind and punch holes in clou...
- + Twin spacecraft will launch to create an artificial solar eclipse—The Proba-3 mission consists of two spacecraft that will fly in close formation to study the sun, with the shadow of one creating an artificial solar ...
- + People prefer AI-generated poems to Shakespeare and Dickinson—Readers give higher ratings to AI-generated poetry than the works of poets such as William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson – perhaps bec...
- + Bizarre test shows light can actually cast its own shadow—With the help of a ruby cube and two laser beams, researchers made one ray of light cast a shadow when illuminated by the other
- + Watch autonomous cars do doughnuts and drift sideways round corners—Driverless cars can now do doughnuts and drift like stunt drivers, skidding sideways around corners while maintaining control, which might help the ca...
- + World’s largest coral is 300 years old and was discovered by accident—The mega-coral measures 34 metres by 32 metres – making it larger than a blue whale – and it is thought to be three centuries old
- + Mounting evidence points to air pollution as a cause of eczema—Air pollution has been linked to eczema before, and now a study of more than 280,000 people has strengthened the association
- + 12,000-year-old stones may be oldest example of wheel-like tools—Dozens of perforated pebbles from an archaeological site in Israel may be early examples of spindle whorls, a rotating tool used in textile making tha...
- + Sweeter tomatoes are coming soon thanks to CRISPR gene editing—Selection for bigger tomatoes has made the fruits less sweet, but now it has been shown that gene editing can make them sweeter without decreasing yie...
- + Millions of phones create most complete map ever of the ionosphere—Researchers mapped Earth’s ionosphere, part of the upper atmosphere, using signal data from 40 million phones – a method that could improve GPS accura...
- + Exquisite bird fossil provides clues to the evolution of avian brains—Palaeontologists have pieced together the brain structure of a bird that lived 80 million years ago named Navaornis hestiae, thanks to a remarkably we...
- + Drought, fires and fossil fuels push CO2 emissions to a record high—An annual accounting of CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels and land use change finds no sign emissions will peak this year
- + Migratory birds can use Earth's magnetic field like a GPS—Eurasian reed warblers don’t just get a sense of direction from Earth’s magnetic field – they can also calculate their coordinates on a mental map
- + Google Street View helps map how 600,000 trees grow down to the limb—AI and Google Street View have created 'digital twins' of living trees in North American cities – part of a huge simulation that could help make urban...
- + Jets of liquid bounce off hot surfaces without ever touching them—Droplets of fluid have been known to hover above a hot surface, but a new experiment suggests the same can happen to tiny jets of liquid too
- + Next Mauna Loa eruption could be forecast months in advance—An analysis of crystals in lava from the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa has revealed an unknown magma reservoir within the volcano, which could extend for...
- + This robot can build anything you ask for out of blocks—An AI-assisted robot can listen to spoken commands and assemble 3D objects such as chairs and tables out of reusable building blocks
- + Red kites and buzzards are being killed by misuse of rat poisons—Campaigners are calling for stricter controls on rodenticides after finding that birds of prey in England are increasingly being exposed to high doses...
- + How a single gopher restored a landscape devastated by a volcano—Never underestimate what a single gopher can achieve in a day: one of the burrowing mammals helped boost soil fungi in an area blanketed by ash from t...
- + Humanity has warmed the planet by 1.5°C since 1700—Most assessments of global warming use 1850-1900 as a baseline, but researchers have now established a new pre-industrial reference by using Antarctic...
- + Lights on surfboards and wetsuits could deter shark attacks—Experiments show that illuminating the underside of a decoy seal reduces attacks by great white sharks, revealing a possible strategy to protect surfe...
- + Our only visit to Uranus came at an unusual time for the planet—Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, giving us our only up-close look at the planet – but unusual space weather just before the craft arrived has given u...
- + Audio AIs are trained on data full of bias and offensive language—Seven major datasets used to train audio-generating AI models are three times more likely to use the words "man" or "men" than "woman" or "women", rai...
- + Any delay in reaching net zero will influence climate for centuries—Reaching net-zero emissions is essential for halting climate change - but even after we achieve this goal, parts of the planet will continue to warm. ...
- + AI helps robot dogs navigate the real world—Four-legged robot dogs learned to perform new tricks by practising in a virtual platform that mimics real-world obstacles – a possible shortcut for tr...
- + Chimps do better at difficult tasks when they have an audience—An analysis of thousands of cognitive tests carried out by chimpanzees finds that the number of spectators influenced their performance in different w...
- + Watch elephants use a hose to shower themselves – and prank others—Asian elephants at Berlin Zoo show impressive skill when using a hose as a tool, and even appear to sabotage each other by stopping the flow of water
- + Quantum Rubik's cube has infinite patterns but is still solvable—Allowing for moves that create quantum superpositions makes a quantum version of a Rubik’s cube incredibly complex, but not impossible to solve
- + Why does our universe have something instead of nothing?—In order to figure out how something came from nothing, we first need to explore the different types of nothing
- + We are a long way from pregnancy being safe on Mars—Dangerous radiation reaches Mars at levels we aren't exposed to on Earth, which makes the Red Planet a particularly dangerous place to be during pregn...
- + Why hairy animals shake themselves dry—The brain pathway that causes hairy mammals like mice and dogs to shake themselves dry appears to have more to do with pressure than temperature
- + Slick trick separates oil and water with 99.9 per cent purity—Oil and water can be separated efficiently by pumping the mixture through thin channels between two semipermeable membranes
- + Bird flu antibodies found in dairy workers in Michigan and Colorado—Blood tests have shown that about 7 per cent of workers on dairy farms that had H5N1 outbreaks had antibodies against the disease
- + Marmots could have the solution to a long-running debate in evolution—When it comes to the survival of animals living in the wild, the characteristics of the group can matter as much as the traits of the individual, acco...
- + Carbon emissions from private jets have exploded in recent years—The climate impact of flights taken by the super-rich rose sharply from 2019 to 2023, fuelling calls for a carbon tax on private aviation
- + Chinese rover finds further evidence for an ancient ocean on Mars—Data collected by the Zhurong rover and orbiting satellites suggests the existence of an ancient shoreline in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars
- + DNA analysis rewrites the stories of people buried in Pompeii—Genetic analysis of five individuals preserved as plaster casts in the ruins of Pompeii contradicts established beliefs about the people and their rel...
- + Ancient Egyptians shaped sheep's horns – and we don't know why—The earliest evidence of livestock with modified horns has been discovered in ancient Egypt – sheep skulls with horns that point in unnatural directio...
- + Knots made in a weird quantum fluid can last forever—Shapes created by vortices in water often fall apart, but an odd quantum fluid made from ultracold atoms could support vortex knots that never lose th...
- + More people are living with pain today than before covid emerged—Chronic pain has increased among adults in the US since 2019, which could be due to a rise in sedentary lifestyles or reduced access to healthcare ami...
- + 2024 is set to be the first year that breaches the 1.5°C warming limit—This year’s average global temperature is almost certain to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial times – a milestone that should spur urgent action, say ...
- + Vampire bats run on a treadmill to reveal their strange metabolism—Experiments where vampire bats were made to run on a treadmill have revealed how they extract energy from protein in their latest blood meal
- + Distant dwarf planet Makemake might have a surprising ice volcano—A small world in the outer solar system appears to have volcanic activity possibly spurred by liquid water
- + Cancer deaths expected to nearly double worldwide by 2050—Experts predict that the number of cancer cases around the world will skyrocket, resulting in millions more fatalities by 2050
- + Dazzling images illuminate research on cardiovascular disease—The British Heart Foundation’s Reflections of Research competition showcases beautiful images captured by researchers studying heart and circulatory d...
- + 3D printing with light and sound could let us copy human organs—One day, doctors might be able to 3D print copies of your organs in order to test a variety of drugs, thanks to a new technique that uses light and so...
- + Natural fibres in wet wipes may actually be worse for soil and animals—Fibres in wet wipes and clothes often make their way into soil - and natural versions could be more damaging than synthetic ones
- + Ancient Mesopotamian clay seals offer clues to the origin of writing—Before Mesopotamian people invented writing, they used cylinder seals to press patterns into wet clay – and some of the symbols used were carried over...
- + Spraying rice with sunscreen particles during heatwaves boosts growth—Zinc nanoparticles, a common sunscreen ingredient, can make plants more resilient to climate change – in a surprising way
- + Heat can flow backwards in a gas so thin its particles never touch—A surprising reversal of our usual understanding of the second law of thermodynamics shows that it may be possible for heat to move in the “wrong” dir...
- + The COP16 biodiversity summit was a big flop for protecting nature—Although the COP16 summit in Colombia ended with some important agreements, countries still aren’t moving fast enough to stem biodiversity loss
- + COP29: Clashes over cash are set to dominate the climate conference—The focus is on finance at the UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month, but countries are a long way from any kind of consensus
- + We've seen particles that are massless only when moving one direction—Inside a hunk of a material called a semimetal, scientists have uncovered signatures of bizarre particles that sometimes move like they have no mass, ...
- + World's largest tree is also among the oldest living organisms—DNA analysis suggests Pando, a quaking aspen in Utah with thousands of stems connected by their roots, is between 16,000 and 81,000 years old
- + What is Disease X and do we need to worry about it?—The term “Disease X” means a new infection, or an existing pathogen that has mutated to become more dangerous, with the potential to cause a global pa...
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