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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
The purpose of Krause corpuscles, sensory structures in the genitals, has long been a mystery, but it now seems they contain neurons that respond to vibration and are key to sexual motivation and function, according to work in mice ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
An evolutionary analysis of behavioural traits across primate species may shed light on the question of whether humans are violent by nature ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
Being younger or older than this range raises the risk of the baby being born with certain medical conditions ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
A New York City law is requiring companies to show that the AI-powered tools they use in hiring and promotion are not biased. Critics say it lets most employers off the hook ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
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 ⌘ Read more
Squash bugs need certain kinds of gut bacteria to survive, but young nymphs don’t get any from their parents – so they have to acquire them by eating other adults’ faeces ⌘ Read more
Warmer temperatures increase the amount of precipitation that falls as rain instead of snow, leading to more extreme rainfall in snowy places ⌘ Read more
By looking at electrical signals octopuses produce in their brain while asleep and awake, researchers have gathered some of the best evidence yet that the cephalopods dream ⌘ Read more
Also known as The Iceman, Wim Hof's claims that his breathing and cold exposure methods will "keep your body and mind in its optimal natural state" lack good scientific evidence ⌘ Read more
A company called Moolec has created transgenic soya beans called “Piggy Sooy” in which a quarter of the protein is pig protein rather than plant protein ⌘ Read more
Honeybees brought to the US from Europe and Africa tend to move pollen between flowers on the same plant more than native bees do. This appears to lower the quality of some plants’ offspring ⌘ Read more
Many planets are thought to be flung away from their stars, but it’s possible that some get trapped on the way out – and one could be lurking at the edge of our own solar system ⌘ Read more
Five malaria cases have been reported in Florida and Texas, all of which were acquired through local transmission ⌘ Read more
An expedition to hunt for fragments of a possible interstellar meteor has found 40 tiny iron spherules on the sea floor – but whether they are truly interstellar is controversial ⌘ Read more
Rising rates of vegetarianism and veganism may be causing iron deficiency, a condition that also commonly occurs due to heavy periods ⌘ Read more
In an evolutionary eyeblink, our species has gone from hunting and gathering to living in complex societies. We need to rethink the story of this monumental transition ⌘ Read more
Two separate groups of orangutans have been observed making calls that use two sounds simultaneously. The finding could help researchers better understand the origins of human communication ⌘ Read more
Countries have failed to deliver on promises to create new marine protected areas in the seas around Antarctica, leaving a unique ecosystem vulnerable to climate change and overfishing ⌘ Read more
Northvolt says that its massive factory in Sweden will soon produce enough batteries each year to power a million electric cars, with a much smaller carbon footprint than those made in China ⌘ Read more
Intermittent fasting, when all food is eaten within an eight hour window each day, leads to people eating about 400 fewer calories per day ⌘ Read more
Female dolphins modify their vocalisations in the presence of their offspring, mirroring the ‘baby talk’ used by humans ⌘ Read more
Evidence is mounting that megalodon could have been warm-blooded, unlike most modern sharks, hinting at how it grew to be so big and also why it went extinct ⌘ Read more
Twenty-five years ago, a neuroscientist and a philosopher bet a case of fine wine on whether scientists would have cracked the neural basis of consciousness by 2023. Now, one of them conceded the prize ⌘ Read more
A study in mice has shown that eating during what would normally be a resting period helps build muscle fibres needed for endurance running, though this has yet to be confirmed in humans ⌘ Read more
If you’re struggling for time or motivation, here are evidence-based hacks that maximise the effects of the exercise you do manage – from breathing tricks to the mindset shift that can reduce body fat ⌘ Read more
Frances Haugen leaked thousands of pages of Facebook's internal documents. The revelations she uncovered about, among many other things, hate speak and eating disorder content on the social network are unforgettable; sadly, her account of the story is ⌘ Read more
The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope is scheduled to launch on 1 July and then begin its mission of studying the effects of dark energy and dark matter ⌘ Read more
Deep-sea Osedax worms, known to consume whale bones and the remains of bony fish, also feed on shark teeth after the predators die ⌘ Read more
A computer vision system uses photographs of someone’s face from different angles to reconstruct the scene they are viewing ⌘ Read more
Earth appears to have less mass beneath a certain part of the Indian Ocean compared with the rest of the planet. Plumes of magma at the location could explain why ⌘ Read more
A fragmentation event has given astronomers a new way to study a comet from the outer reaches of the solar system ⌘ Read more
A soft, tubular robot can bend, twist, expand and contract when exposed to different intensities of light ⌘ Read more
A new technique enables 3D printing of miniature heart chambers called ventricles that can beat on their own, and may one day help create whole hearts for transplantation ⌘ Read more
New Scientist talks to actor Mark Rylance, writer Stephen Brown and director Tom Morris about their new play Dr Semmelweis, which spotlights the work of this maverick 19th-century obstetrician ⌘ Read more
Falling oxygen levels caused by sewage and hot weather saw a specialised boat deployed for 11 days in August to save plants and fish ⌘ Read more
More than 50,000 dead butterflies were traded on eBay in a one-year period, including endangered species protected by international treaties on wildlife trade ⌘ Read more
Astronomers have found a blast of gamma rays from space that seems to have been caused by two stellar corpses smashing together in a way that’s never been seen before ⌘ Read more
A ‘shocklingly simple’ design based on kirigami, the Japanese art of paper cutting, makes sticky tape 60 times stronger, but easy to peel off in one direction ⌘ Read more
In a study involving 80 people with ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments, 90 per cent had signs of healing after three months of wearing a specialised knee brace ⌘ Read more
The stars that orbit close to the Milky Way's supermassive black hole are already tough to explain – but there also seems to be some stars missing ⌘ Read more
We know there are stars moving fast enough to escape the Milky Way, so the same is probably true of other galaxies. Now, simulations suggest there could be almost 4000 stars from the Andromeda galaxy in the Milky Way today ⌘ Read more
The big white spots seen on the wings of migratory monarch butterflies may have evolved to help them fly more efficiently on their long, hot journeys ⌘ Read more
Symbols have been found carved on the walls of a cave in France that was inhabited by Neanderthals before being sealed off at least 57,000 years ago ⌘ Read more
Researchers at Microsoft say they have created elusive quasiparticles called Majorana zero modes – but scientists outside the company are sceptical ⌘ Read more
The huge diversity of the gut microbiome of Hadza hunter-gatherers from Tanzania hints at how industrialisation has influenced the variety of people’s internal microbe communities ⌘ Read more
New research shows that tumours are home to a rich ecosystem of bacteria and fungi that influence cancer progression - opening up incredible new ways to fight the disease ⌘ Read more
Robots that respond to a person's movements in a fraction of a second could be used for a real-life fighting game ⌘ Read more
21 June is the summer solstice or longest day in the northern hemisphere and winter solstice or shortest day in the southern hemisphere ⌘ Read more
Our closest relatives, chimpanzees, seem able to think ahead and prepare for two possible futures – the only animal apart from humans known to do so ⌘ Read more
Orcas have been documented damaging or sinking boats off the coast of Spain and Portugal, but these altercations may simply be the whales scratching their backs on boats or playing terrifying games ⌘ Read more
A centimetre-sized robot with a soft body and metallic scales inspired by pangolins can stop bleeding or destroy cells from inside the body using heat ⌘ Read more
Rivers are awash with manure, fertiliser and pesticides from farming. This is more polluting even than sewage, so what can be done? ⌘ Read more
Researchers attached pill bugs and chitons to a robot arm to show how creatures might work with machines, but it isn't clear how useful this would be ⌘ Read more
A 5-kilometre-deep well is supplying heat to the Eden Project visitor attraction in Cornwall, but despite the UK’s significant resources, it lags behind other European countries in exploiting geothermal energy ⌘ Read more
Extremely long necks probably helped ancient marine reptiles ambush prey in murky waters, but also made them easy targets for decapitation by predators ⌘ Read more
By combining a solar fuel cell that converts carbon dioxide into fuel with a plastic recycling system, researchers can create sustainable fuels and useful chemicals ⌘ Read more
Sara Imari Walker, who developed Assembly Theory with chemist Lee Cronin, explains how the theory's definition of life might help us find it on other planets ⌘ Read more
Waters around the UK and Ireland have been classified as experiencing a category 4 (extreme) marine heatwave, as the North Atlantic ocean continues to see extraordinary warmth ⌘ Read more
Two independent teams of researchers found that putting the silvery metal scandium under extreme pressure makes it into a superconductor at a temperature higher than any other element on its own ⌘ Read more
A distant star called FU Orionis has been shining extraordinarily bright for the last 85 years, and it may be because it is incinerating a young, nearby planet that could be fully consumed in another 300 years ⌘ Read more
Levels of pollutants in the UK's rivers are tested by random sampling, a method that experts say is decades out of date and not thorough enough to tackle the issues facing the waterways ⌘ Read more
As part of New Scientist's Save Britain's Rivers campaign, we've rounded up the best citizen science projects that let you play an active role in improving the nation's waterways ⌘ Read more
Neural recordings from chickadees have found unique patterns of activity that occur when they hide food and then retrieve it later, and they may represent how memories are indexed in the brain ⌘ Read more
Lab-reared insects sometimes struggle to compete for mates with wild males, but an encounter with a robotic replica seems to improve their performance ⌘ Read more
Changes in the distribution of groundwater around the planet between 1993 and 2010 were enough to make Earth's poles drift by 80 centimetres ⌘ Read more
Particles from wildfire smoke may cause the formation of cirrus clouds high in the atmosphere far away from the location of the fires ⌘ Read more
Global weather conditions are showing extraordinary levels of heating this year. With this adding to human-driven climate change, 2023 could be the hottest year we have ever seen ⌘ Read more
Customers in the UK, Germany and Italy will soon be able to replace gas boilers with heat pumps from Swedish company Aira and pay a monthly fee instead of a hefty installation cost ⌘ Read more
A multicoloured stink bug found in Western Australia has forked horns for camouflage, mysterious patches of matted hair and the males have peculiar tusks that may be used to win over females ⌘ Read more
A new-to-science species of beetle is marked by a distinct yellow band on its shoulders, long hair-like scales all over its body and legs, and the unique shape of its torso ⌘ Read more
The first human embryo-like structures have been created from stem cells, in a move that could help scientists study the causes of early miscarriages ⌘ Read more
Chalk streams, a type of nutrient-rich river found mostly in England, are under threat from pollution and over-exploitation. Fines paid by water firms will be used to restore these rivers, but it may take decades ⌘ Read more
Particles produced by cosmic rays hitting Earth's atmosphere, called muons, have been proposed as an alternative to GPS navigation that would work underground - and now it has been tested for real ⌘ Read more
Transferring a mother's vaginal fluid to a baby born by Caesarean section was linked to their development being more advanced at 6 months ⌘ Read more
In the early morning on 17 June you will be able to see Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn all appear in the sky together - here's how you can spot them, wherever you are in the world ⌘ Read more
Like its rival BP, Shell claims it is committed to reaching net zero by 2050 despite planning to increase its output this decade, but experts say this doesn’t add up ⌘ Read more
Researchers at IBM pitted their 127-qubit Eagle quantum computer against a conventional supercomputer in a challenge to perform a complex calculation – and the quantum computer won ⌘ Read more
Ultrasound is most familiar to us as a non-invasive imaging technology used during pregnancy – now it is in clinical trials as a powerful new tool for treating all sorts of medical conditions ⌘ Read more
Astronomers have spotted white dwarfs moving faster than any free-moving star seen before – so fast they must have been launched by supernovae ⌘ Read more
Despite numerous people claiming to have seen big cats in the UK, there is no hard evidence they exist ⌘ Read more
Male harbour seals use vocalisations to woo females and they appear to learn these songs years before they need them ⌘ Read more
Tiliqua frangens, a giant, armoured skink that lived over 40,000 years ago, is the latest bizarre megafauna species to be discovered in Australia ⌘ Read more
Genetic experiments have identified a small group of neurons in the brain of fruit flies that respond to the sight of fly corpses and trigger accelerated ageing ⌘ Read more
Human skull and shinbone fragments found in a cave in northern Laos suggest modern humans may have been in South-East Asia between 68,000 and 86,000 years ago, considerably further back than the previous estimates of around 50,000 years ⌘ Read more
A few months ago, the James Webb Space Telescope spotted six early galaxies that were so large they threatened to break our best theory of how the cosmos evolved. Did they? ⌘ Read more
Black rhinos are commonly dehorned to prevent poaching, but monitoring data suggests the practice may have an impact on their social interactions ⌘ Read more
Recent research is revealing how air pollution damages many parts of the body, who is most at risk and how heatwaves exacerbate the effects ⌘ Read more
The microbes that insects harbour may have played a key role in shaping the diets and driving the diversification of inspect species ⌘ Read more
People who were played fake translations in their sleep could recall which category of words they belonged to when they woke up ⌘ Read more