Cheddar cheese's distinct but often subtle flavour comes down to interactions between different bacteria, which cheese-makers could utilise to create a specific taste ⌘ Read more
Cheddar cheese's distinct but often subtle flavour comes down to interactions between different bacteria, which cheese-makers could utilise to create a specific taste ⌘ Read more
The record for long-distance laser messaging has been broken with a high-resolution video of Taters the cat chasing a red laser dot – it was transmitted over 31 million kilometres ⌘ Read more
Our favourite wildlife shots of the year feature an inquisitive hyena pup, a colourful sea slug and a fruit bat being swabbed for science ⌘ Read more
Adolescents’ brains underwent accelerated ageing during the covid-19 pandemic, and the effect was more pronounced in girls than in boys ⌘ Read more
An extension of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which places limits on how precisely you can measure the properties of quantum objects, has found that it really isn't possible to cheat the laws of quantum physics ⌘ Read more
Getting outside to garden or walk in a park is good for your body – it’s exercise and you can get some vitamin D from the sun – but it’s also important for your self-esteem and mood ⌘ Read more
Two relatively recent dietary trends – veganism and concerns about highly processed foods – may be in conflict with each other ⌘ Read more
The chemical reactions in cells appear to shape an embryo's development, possibly overriding the effect of genes ⌘ Read more
Artificial intelligence helped screen millions of chemical compounds to find a class of antibiotics capable of killing two different types of drug-resistant bacteria ⌘ Read more
A single, extremely cold atom could play the role of two slits in the classic double-slit experiment from quantum physics, something that was previously thought to be impossible ⌘ Read more
New Scientist's most popular story of the year was about the discovery that sperm break Isaac Newton's third law of motion ⌘ Read more
After taking control of Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk hired a new CEO to replace himself, all while continuing to transform the social media platform into X ⌘ Read more
An AI-powered test that claimed to be “clinical grade” listens for signs of stress in people’s voices. But it provides inconsistent results when tested on the same person twice, according to a study ⌘ Read more
From David Attenborough on dinosaurs to Michael J. Fox’s insight into living with Parkinson’s disease, our TV columnist Bethan Ackerley picks the year’s best science documentaries ⌘ Read more
Quantum computers could become more useful now researchers at Google have designed an algorithm that can translate complex physical problems into the language of quantum physics ⌘ Read more
Jupiter’s moon Io is so volcanically active that any impact craters are rapidly covered up, but an amateur astronomer may have finally spotted the first one ever seen there ⌘ Read more
Rings, moons, storms and a bright polar cap can be seen in this breathtaking new image of Uranus from the James Webb Space Telescope ⌘ Read more
The finding suggests that weight loss and diabetes injections such Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound, may have wider medical benefits than first thought ⌘ Read more
A model trained on 6 million people’s health, employment and financial records can predict death more accurately than tools used by the insurance industry ⌘ Read more
We have always suspected that fish can make enormous energy savings by swimming in groups, and now we have the proof ⌘ Read more
From the relationship between cannabis and creativity to the effects of cannabis on teenage brains, here are 9 important questions about marijuana answered ⌘ Read more
When springtime comes to Uranus's moons, the increased sunlight may cause ices on the surface to turn into gases, which would create tenuous temporary atmospheres ⌘ Read more
According to a long-standing idea, life exists at the edge of chaos, meaning it is sensitive enough to respond to small environmental changes. But an analysis of processes that occur inside cells challenges the idea ⌘ Read more
The James Webb Space Telescope has found three objects about a thousand light years away that may be the least massive brown dwarf stars ever seen – though it is unclear how they formed ⌘ Read more
The first footage from inside a centrifuge has uncovered unexpected swirls and vortices inside shower gel and other fluids ⌘ Read more
Crushing carbon and nitrogen under immense pressure and heat creates the second-hardest known material after diamond ⌘ Read more
Running your own AI locally by splitting it across multiple devices offers more privacy than using online services ⌘ Read more
When the sun was young, it may have stolen a planet from another nearby star - meaning an exoplanet could be waiting on the outer edges of the solar system for us to discover ⌘ Read more
A robotic assistant can learn to do household jobs like opening cupboards, pulling out chairs or taking a towel off a rail after a bit of training using a stick with an iPhone on it ⌘ Read more
The AI company DeepMind claims it has developed a way to harness the creativity of chatbots to solve mathematical problems while filtering out mistakes ⌘ Read more
Hydrogen cyanide, ethane and traces of methanol are present in the water spewing from Enceladus's ocean – all of which could be building blocks of life ⌘ Read more
Maze-like bones in the noses of Arctic seals turn out to be an adaptation for keeping warm in chilly conditions ⌘ Read more
Fagilde’s trapdoor spider seemingly vanished after it was first described in 1931, but now scientists have finally spotted it again in northern Portugal ⌘ Read more
Pressure sensors on a prosthetic foot that send electrical pulses to the spinal cord help improve walking stability – and they also reduce phantom limb pain by an average of 70 per cent ⌘ Read more
Potentially dangerous battery damage that would normally be hidden from sight could be revealed quickly and at low cost using ultrasound waves ⌘ Read more
Extra limbs could provide a productivity boost to people working in a range of jobs, and experiments show that people are capable of controlling them intuitively ⌘ Read more
An agreement reached at the COP28 climate summit mentions transitioning away from fossil fuels, but contains weak points that could limit our ability to keep the world from warming beyond 1.5°C ⌘ Read more
In mice, neurons activated by stress cause the animals to wake up far more often during sleep – if the process is similar in humans, it could lead to new ways of improving sleep quality ⌘ Read more
Before colonisation, Australia was made up of at least 200 distinct nations. Now a genome analysis has revealed that modern Indigenous Australians retain high levels of genetic diversity, far more than people of European or Asian ancestry ⌘ Read more
A material inspired by spider silk contracts to less than half of its length when exposed to water, and could be used for soft medical devices that adjust their shape around tissues and organs inside the body ⌘ Read more
The Geminid meteor shower will peak very early on the morning of 14 December, shortly after a new moon, making for perfect viewing conditions ⌘ Read more
In 2023, archaeologists found evidence of architecture and art beginning earlier than we thought, and uncovered data that rewrites our ideas of how much power women had in ancient societies ⌘ Read more
For the first time in the history of the COP process the phrase "fossil fuels" has appeared in a climate summit agreement, as part of promise for the world to begin "transitioning away" from the leading cause of global warming ⌘ Read more
The first attempt to draw up a comprehensive list of what domestic cats eat has identified more than 2000 species so far, including many endangered ones ⌘ Read more
How will the rise of artificial intelligence ultimately pan out for society? We sketch the most likely outcomes, including a world where AIs solve all our problems and another in which they wipe us out ⌘ Read more
Countries at the COP28 climate summit are still struggling to reach a deal on phasing out fossil fuels, but even having discussions on an end to the main cause of global warming is huge progress, say campaigners and researchers ⌘ Read more
A neuromorphic supercomputer called DeepSouth will be capable of 228 trillion synaptic operations per second, which is on par with the estimated number of operations in the human brain ⌘ Read more
A didgeridoo may look like a simple hollowed-out branch, but a study of the acoustic interplay between the instrument and our vocal cords has revealed the complexity involved ⌘ Read more
A system that records the brain's electrical activity through the scalp can turn thoughts into words with help from a large language model – but the results are far from perfect ⌘ Read more
Mathematicians have long been fascinated by the most efficient way of packing spheres in a space, and now physicists have confirmed that the best place to put them is into a sausage shape, at least for small numbers of balls ⌘ Read more
In the second episode of our three-part podcast series, Christie Taylor explores what happens to memory, creativity and the mind when getting high from cannabis ⌘ Read more
As the climate negotiations reach their final hours, countries are still fundamentally divided on how to address the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions ⌘ Read more
A biocomputing system consisting of living brain cells learned to recognise the voice of one individual from hundreds of sound clips ⌘ Read more
The European Union is finalising its AI Act, which attempts to regulate the use of artificial intelligence, but it isn't clear that the legislation can keep pace with the cutting edge of technology ⌘ Read more
Scientists use electricity to make cells take up DNA – and the same process could happen in nature thanks to electric eels’ shocking powers ⌘ Read more
If you're planning a holiday bring your blanket and get ready to hunker down, these are the coldest places on Earth ever recorded ⌘ Read more
An AI that predicts the time of first light from exploding stars could help astronomers sift through millions of such events and speed up scientific discovery ⌘ Read more
This year's Geminid meteor shower will peak on 14 December, shortly after a new moon, making for perfect viewing conditions ⌘ Read more
Supporting people and countries that are already experiencing devastation from climate change must be a key part of COP28 agreements, on top of a potential deal to phase out fossil fuels, say politicians and campaigners ⌘ Read more
There is some evidence that cannabis is an effective short-term pain-reliever but long-term users may experience more pain ⌘ Read more
An analysis of over 270,000 people's genomes has found that people with genes linked to having children earlier in life are also more likely to die before the age of 76 ⌘ Read more
Much of the Great Wall of China is covered in a biocrust of lichen, moss and cyanobacteria – it turns out this isn’t slowly destroying the wall, as was previously thought, but is slowing its degradation ⌘ Read more
Studying the brain activity of a mouse while it scurries around different virtual reality scenarios typically requires cumbersome equipment, but the invention of miniature goggles may have solved that problem ⌘ Read more
Regal jumpers, a type of jumping spider, appear to be less interested in each other if they have met before, suggesting that the arachnids recognise individuals within their species ⌘ Read more
Psychiatrist Deepak D’Souza says we are finally beginning to understand the relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia, including which drug users are most at risk ⌘ Read more
Humans have been altering the lunar surface since the first Soviet probe in 1959. With moon missions set to ramp up, researchers say humanity is now the dominant geological force and the moon is entering its equivalent of the Anthropocene ⌘ Read more
Visualising space-time can be a mind-melting exercise, but mathematician Manil Suri has a trick that makes it easier ⌘ Read more
Scientists have a better understanding of how we enjoy jokes after monitoring people's brain activity while they watched the sitcom Seinfeld ⌘ Read more
There is a reasonable chance 2024 will be the first year in which the average global surface temperature is more than 1.5°C above that of the pre-industrial period, the UK's Met Office forecasts ⌘ Read more
A reconstruction of 66 million years of climate history indicates global temperature may be even more sensitive to carbon dioxide levels than current models estimate ⌘ Read more
Honey-hunters from several African cultures use different sounds to communicate with honeyguides, and the birds respond to local calls more than others ⌘ Read more
When a baseball is tilted and spinning just right, its raised, hand-stitched seams skew the process by which its wake is created and radically shift its trajectory in the air ⌘ Read more
One of four newly described species of "stalked puffball" fungi from Hungary’s Pannonian steppe erupts out of the sand like the iconic Shai-Hulud ⌘ Read more
From Wall-E to Short Circuit via I, Robot, these are the best films out there about AI, says Alan Turing Institute ethics fellow Mhairi Aitken ⌘ Read more
Uganda announced a plan at COP28 to use oil revenues to fund a rapid expansion of clean energy across the east African country ⌘ Read more
A species of hedgehog that hadn't been scientifically identified before has been discovered in two eastern Chinese provinces ⌘ Read more
Two solar farms in Minnesota saw big increases in bees and other insects after a variety of native grasses and wildlfowers were planted among the panels ⌘ Read more
Chromosomal abnormalities were thought to cause around half of miscarriages, but a new genetic analysis technique puts the figure at nearer two-thirds for early miscarriages, with the remaining third probably also due to factors that are out of our control ⌘ Read more
A quantum computer built by QuEra contains the largest ever number of "logical quantum bits", which can be used for error-free calculations ⌘ Read more
Most robots lack a flexible spine, so researchers created a 3D-printed mouse with the ability to bend its back and found that it could move faster ⌘ Read more
Tiny machines made from strands of DNA can build copies of themselves, leading to exponential replication. Similar devices could one day be used to create drugs inside the body ⌘ Read more
The US Space Force is launching its mysterious X-37B space plane on 10 December atop a Falcon Heavy rocket for what will probably be its highest and longest flight yet ⌘ Read more
Much of the world pledged to triple renewable energy this decade – except some of the biggest emitters – and ambitious climate mitigation goals have been set without clear funding ⌘ Read more
Coffee aficionados often add a drop of water to their beans before grinding – now scientists have shown that this leads to less mess and a more flavourful espresso ⌘ Read more
The Gemini artificial intelligence comes in a variety of sizes, with Google saying its mid-range version will be incorporated into its Bard chatbot and available to the public from today ⌘ Read more
A painkilling nasal spray was better at relieving people's discomfort when it caused a mild burning sensation, possibly due to the placebo effect ⌘ Read more
As more of us take up vaping and concerns rise about the long-term effects, we now have enough data to get a grip on the health impact – and how it compares to smoking ⌘ Read more
Talking with your hands may help you stress the correct parts of words as you learn a new language ⌘ Read more
The Australian Space Agency is working on plans for its first moon rover, which will fly on an Artemis mission later this decade – and it has already chosen a name ⌘ Read more
Governments should be aiming to trigger technological, economic and social tipping points that accelerate climate action, according to a major report ⌘ Read more
Spinning locusts in a centrifuge to mimic hypergravity seems to cause their exoskeletons to adapt, giving them stiffer legs – but too much gravity and they simply died ⌘ Read more
We are getting close to triggering irreversible changes that will have catastrophic effects worldwide, according to a major report on tipping points in Earth’s systems ⌘ Read more
A scientific analysis of history reveals that societies are becoming more resilient to collapse – and shows how to successfully navigate crises, says complexity scientist Peter Turchin ⌘ Read more
Senolytic drugs can clear away worn and damaged “zombie” immune cells that are resistant to dying, which may help treat multiple sclerosis, according to research in mice ⌘ Read more
The past year gave us thrilling missions to Jupiter and the moon, stunning images that captured the universe like it’s never been seen before, and a few tanatalising cosmic mysteries ⌘ Read more
A machine-learning algorithm was able to tell which estate 80 Bordeaux red wines came from with 100 per cent accuracy by assessing their chemical signatures ⌘ Read more
In areas of the sea affected by bottom trawling, marine life is more abundant in and around shipwrecks, suggesting they should be considered important conservation sites ⌘ Read more
Despite urgent calls to slash fossil fuel use to meet climate targets, the Global Carbon Budget report shows that 2023 emissions will be about 1.1 per cent higher than last year ⌘ Read more
A device that was implanted into the brains of people with traumatic brain injuries substantially improved their cognitive function a year later, a small study suggests ⌘ Read more
Artificial intelligence may never reach its full potential without a body to interact with the physical world. Roboticist Josh Bongard says that the push for “embodied AI” is suggesting a rethink of what it means to design intelligent robots ⌘ Read more