A spike in wildfires across the globe is stalling and even reversing improvements on air pollution, raising the risk of lung, heart and neurological problems ⌘ Read more
A spike in wildfires across the globe is stalling and even reversing improvements on air pollution, raising the risk of lung, heart and neurological problems ⌘ Read more
Two strange, high-density blobs buried more than a kilometre underground may have come from the ancient world Theia, which is thought to have slammed into Earth to create the moon ⌘ Read more
Gene expression patterns in starfish reveal a surprising answer to the question of how they evolved their unusual body shape ⌘ Read more
Conventional measures like blood pressure and body mass index only tell you so much. Testing your microbiome and metabolites, or even discovering your “immune grade”, can offer a clearer picture of your health ⌘ Read more
The AI Safety Summit, hosted by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, has been criticised for a lack of diverse perspectives, focusing on the wrong problems and being dominated by powerful technology company executives ⌘ Read more
Wildfires can deposit large amounts of ash into the oceans, and experiments suggest that this material could boosts the growth of phytoplankton in seawater ⌘ Read more
A fresh vision of the Culture universe from Iain M. Banks plus new books from Brandon Sanderson and Naomi Alderman are among the science fiction treats in store this November ⌘ Read more
Large language models such as GPT-4 were able to identify people’s personal information by analysing their posts on social media ⌘ Read more
People with ADHD may need to search for their medicines at multiple pharmacies or see their doctor to get their prescription altered ⌘ Read more
Suzie Edge is a medical historian who frequently surprises (and sometimes shocks) her TikTok followers with health stories of famous people from the past. Here are some of her favourites ⌘ Read more
The way AI systems work means that we can’t easily delete what they have learned. Now, researchers are seeking ways to remove sensitive information without having to retrain them from scratch ⌘ Read more
The most recent review into the effectiveness of face masks has confirmed that they do help to prevent covid-19, but the intervention remains a controversial issue ⌘ Read more
Ahead of a meeting at Bletchley Park on the future of artificial intelligence hosted by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, international agreements on AI are coming together ⌘ Read more
When flatworms have the ability to regenerate, they lose the option to lay eggs – instead they produce offspring by splitting themselves apart ⌘ Read more
Researchers recently identified the chemical source of marijuana's distinctive scent. The finding could help lead to less pungent pot or strains with new flavours ⌘ Read more
An evergreen desert shrub common in the Middle East excretes salt crystals onto its leaves that may help it draw moisture from nighttime air ⌘ Read more
US president Joe Biden has announced an executive order that establishes ambitious guidelines on safety and security for artificial intelligence, but it will still need political will to put regulatory teeth and resources behind it ⌘ Read more
The Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago filled the sky with fine silicate dust, which blocked out sunlight and lingered for 15 years ⌘ Read more
The amount of carbon dioxide we can still emit to have just a 50 per cent chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C is even smaller than previously thought ⌘ Read more
Seventy years ago, three discoveries propelled our understanding of how life on Earth began. But has the biggest clue to life's origins been staring biologists in the face all along? ⌘ Read more
On 28 October, the full moon had a red tinge for viewers in the UK, Europe, Asia and Africa, created by Earth's shadow ⌘ Read more
Largest analysis of brain scanning data yet suggests concerns about getting 7-to-8 hours sleep a night are overblown ⌘ Read more
Several species of flies, moths and planthoppers look so much like their jumping spider enemies that they fool an image-recognition AI ⌘ Read more
Palestinian telecommunications companies say that Israeli military bombardment of Gaza has cut off nearly all mobile phone and internet communications services ⌘ Read more
More than a third of food produced in the US goes to waste. Most of it ends up in landfills where it becomes a major source of planet-warming methane as it decays ⌘ Read more
Ketamine becomes trapped inside certain receptors in the brains of mice – and the longer it is trapped, the longer its antidepressant effects last ⌘ Read more
A screening test for bowel cancer that looks for RNA in stools can be done at home and is almost as good at detecting the condition as gold-standard colonoscopies ⌘ Read more
As rock is carved by the wind, it can take on a sphinx-like shape, meaning the Great Sphinx in Egypt may have been partly formed through natural processes ⌘ Read more
Mysterious rhythmic bursts of light from a supernova hint that it has become a compact object like a black hole or neutron star ⌘ Read more
The mini galaxy plant was found flowering on a gravel road after no official sightings had been made since 1981 ⌘ Read more
Household smart meters give a live summary of energy usage and its cost – but the planned switch-off of 2G and 3G mobile networks means that some 7 million devices in England, Wales and Scotland will stop working, warns a government committee ⌘ Read more
From The Fly to Event Horizon, horror expert Neil McRobert is here just in time for Halloween with a guide to the best science horror films of all time ⌘ Read more
A flywheel helps smooth the output of mechanical energy from an engine, and now there is a blueprint for making a quantum version ⌘ Read more
Flatworms are slow-moving predators with poor vision, but one of them managed to attack a spider as it guarded its egg sac ⌘ Read more
We know that migraines, which are recurrent and sometimes debilitating headaches, have some genetic basis, but the link with our DNA isn't entirely clear. Newly identified genetic variants could help in developing treatments ⌘ Read more
The majority of female mammals stop producing eggs long before the end of their potential lifespans, but in the wild few reach this point, other than humans and some whales ⌘ Read more
The full moon on 28 October will have a red tinge for viewers in the UK, Europe, Asia and Africa as part of the moon passes into Earth’s shadow ⌘ Read more
A model predicts that marine cloud brightening would reduce the risk of some disastrous changes in the climate, but could also have some negative consequences ⌘ Read more
Six AI tools, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, were exploited to write code capable of damaging commercial databases – although OpenAI appears to have now fixed the vulnerability ⌘ Read more
Different measures of distractibility could be combined into a single "d score" to assess if someone may have ADHD ⌘ Read more
Very few non-human animals have passed the mirror self-recognition test, but roosters have now succeeded at a modified version, which may mean they can understand that a reflection represents their own body ⌘ Read more
Smart glasses that play a specific noise when an object comes into their field of view, such as the sound of a page turning to represent a book, enable people who are blind to locate that item ⌘ Read more
All the weather models forecasted that Otis would make landfall as a tropical storm but instead it intensified into a Category 5 hurricane ⌘ Read more
Images of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft show a 44-kilometre-wide crater with hints of recent volcanic activity ⌘ Read more
Months of high temperatures and low rainfall are taking their toll on wildlife and people living along the Amazon river, and climate change could bring more extreme conditions ⌘ Read more
One of the biggest questions in physics asks whether space-time is classical or quantum in nature. From slow neutrinos to quantum foam, these experiments are hoping to finally answer it ⌘ Read more
Electrolysers that split water to produce hydrogen have trouble working with seawater, but overcoming this would offer new ways to produce the clean-burning fuel using offshore renewable energy ⌘ Read more
Researchers have identified neurons in mice that influence whether the animals experience motion sickness, which could lead to new ways of preventing the condition in humans ⌘ Read more
Systems that humans depend on could collapse if we don’t take action to address groundwater depletion, melting glaciers and space debris, according to a UN report ⌘ Read more
To unmask the hidden science of Halloween, we've made these seven premium articles free to read for a week. Enjoy... if you dare! ⌘ Read more
A lethal form of bird flu has been discovered in the Antarctic region for the first time and it could kill many seals and whales as well as millions of birds ⌘ Read more
A better picture of the hidden landscape beneath the frozen surface of Antarctica could help us understand how the ice will respond to climate change ⌘ Read more
South Australia is a renewable energy champion and now plans a truly fossil fuel-free grid. How did it make such a remarkable turnaround, and can the rest of the world follow suit? ⌘ Read more
Most of the planets discovered in the universe so far would be incredibly hostile for life, but Dead Planets Society is intent on creating one worse than any we’ve seen before ⌘ Read more
Atom Computing has created the first quantum computer to surpass 1000 qubits, which could improve the accuracy of the machines ⌘ Read more
When a mixture of pea protein and sunflower oil is fermented with lactic acid-producing bacteria, it develops a firm texture and produces flavour compounds found in dairy cheese ⌘ Read more
Support for medical cannabis has skyrocketed in recent years, but when does it actually help? Here's what the evidence says about 20 conditions, including anxiety, cancer and insomnia ⌘ Read more
Batteries containing solid electrolytes have many theoretical benefits, but a technique to manufacture them cheaply has been elusive ⌘ Read more
A gamma ray burst seen last year was so powerful that cosmologists might have to update their models of the universe ⌘ Read more
A computer-generated image mapping the thousands of muscle cells that make up the wall of the heart won top prize at the British Heart Foundation's annual Reflections of Research science photography competition ⌘ Read more
The world is going “in the wrong direction” on forests, say campaigners. But some countries have reduced deforestation rates, and actions such as trade reform could yet turn the tide ⌘ Read more
OpenAI’s GPT-4 advised on committing terrorism and financial fraud when requests were translated into languages it was less familiar with, like Zulu and Scots Gaelic ⌘ Read more
Highly processed foods, from pizza to bread, are said to be seriously bad for your health. Here is a digestible guide to what the evidence says, to help you make sense of the conflicting claims ⌘ Read more
Ocean modelling suggests coastal cities around the world need to start preparing for several metres of sea level rise over the coming centuries ⌘ Read more
Enjoy Piero Martin’s The Seven Measures of the World, stories about measurement, and explore Four Ways of Thinking by David Sumpter, as he argues that maths can improve our lives ⌘ Read more
More than 20 US states have now legalised recreational cannabis, but the devastating effects of prohibition have yet to be overcome, says Zachary Siegel ⌘ Read more
A few years ago, researchers discovered that a rapidly rotating magnet will cause other nearby magnets to levitate, and they have now worked out why ⌘ Read more
The eagerly awaited finding comes from the first randomised trial of putting HEPA filter machines into classrooms ⌘ Read more
Analysis of DNA from human remains up to 37,000 years old shows that more infectious diseases jumped from animals to people after the dawn of farming ⌘ Read more
Some biological cells swim freely in a way that apparently breaks one of Newton’s laws of motion – but only if they have strange elastic properties ⌘ Read more
Isambard-AI will contain about 5000 graphics processing units, making it 10 times as powerful as the UK’s current fastest computer, but it will have a humble home in a Bristol car park ⌘ Read more
Scientists have identified the brain mechanisms behind why we often misremember small details, such as an object's colour or location ⌘ Read more
Among birds, eyes come in all sorts of colours – and it seems that this helps them compete for mating opportunities and intimidate rivals ⌘ Read more
The time delay between sex and offspring makes identifying the cause and effect a little complicated. Humans have language to explain how reproduction works, but for other animals it may be far less clear ⌘ Read more
The population of snow crabs in the Bering Sea has crashed since 2018, probably due to starvation as a result of a marine heatwave ⌘ Read more
The emergence of 'Brood X' periodical cicadas in the US in 2021 gave birds a new food source, leading to knock-on effects throughout forest ecosystems ⌘ Read more
An IBM chip that mimics the brain can run AI-powered image recognition algorithms 22 times faster than any commercial chip ⌘ Read more
A huge burst of energy that has been travelling for more than half the age of the universe is powerful enough to microwave a bowl of popcorn twice the size of the sun ⌘ Read more
As the world warms, vast areas of wilderness in Russia, Canada and Alaska will become more suitable for farming, threatening the local wildlife ⌘ Read more
An analysis of all tropical storms in the Atlantic between 1971 and 2020 has confirmed that hurricanes are intensifying more rapidly, giving people less time to prepare ⌘ Read more
A newsfeed algorithm designed to counteract political polarisation could be effective, according to a test involving hundreds of AI-generated users ⌘ Read more
Efforts to regulate artificial intelligence are gathering steam across the world, but some key ethical and controversial issues don’t seem to be getting enough attention ⌘ Read more
It's hard to let go of the idea that free will exists, but neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky says that society starts to look very different once you do ⌘ Read more
Tall buildings made from electrically conductive materials can send lightning bolts up into the heavens during a thunderstorm, and they generate X-rays at the same time ⌘ Read more
New figures confirm toll of the coronavirus on hospital patients during UK’s second wave, but it’s unclear what lessons this has for today ⌘ Read more
Data centres consume a huge amount of energy, but researchers have found a simple fix - let the servers run much hotter than they do currently ⌘ Read more
For about 25 years, bird flu viruses typically originated in Asia – but the virus that began spreading in 2021 arose in Europe and Africa ⌘ Read more
A particle accelerator that measures just 0.2 mm in length uses laser light to accelerate electrons to speeds of a hundred thousand kilometres per second ⌘ Read more
Scientific research must be reviewed by other scientists before it is published, but some researchers say they find feedback from ChatGPT more useful ⌘ Read more
No penguin alive today can compare with some of the extinct giants that once roamed the planet, including Kumimanu fordycei, Petradyptes stonehousei and Palaeeudyptes klekowskii ⌘ Read more
Snoozing your alarm doesn't make you sleepier, moodier or less cognitively sharp during the day than getting up straight away ⌘ Read more
Pepper X scorches the previous record holder, the Carolina Reaper, by a million Scoville heat units ⌘ Read more
The UN says approximately 2 million people in Gaza may soon run out of water because Israel has shut off supplies. Here's why the region is so vulnerable to water crises ⌘ Read more
Traces of algae on teeth found at archaeological sites suggest that seaweeds may have been a staple part of European diets from the Mesolithic until the Middle Ages ⌘ Read more
Generating electricity from the movements of molecules in a fluid could one day power devices like tiny medical implants or household appliances ⌘ Read more
Efforts to expand urban green spaces are undermined by street trees dying prematurely. Restoring their root microbiomes could help them live longer ⌘ Read more
Researchers who flipped coins 350,757 times have confirmed that the chance of landing the coin the same way up as it started is around 51 per cent ⌘ Read more
A glacier under covers, a fish in danger of losing its home and threatened African penguins feature in the best entries to the Royal Society of Biology Photography Competition ⌘ Read more
NASA's Juno spacecraft has swooped close to Jupiter's moon Io, capturing this amazing photo of the surface – and even better ones will come soon ⌘ Read more
Growing cannabis can consume astonishingly large amounts of electricity and water, as well as damage ecosystems, but it doesn't have to be that way ⌘ Read more