Gilmour Space Technologies is awaiting approval from the Australian Space Agency for the first launch of its Eris Block 1 orbital rocket, with plans to deploy a satellite as soon as April ⌘ Read more
Gilmour Space Technologies is awaiting approval from the Australian Space Agency for the first launch of its Eris Block 1 orbital rocket, with plans to deploy a satellite as soon as April ⌘ Read more
Our skin's pores normally enlarge when we exercise, but this appears to be hindered if we are wearing make-up, which may prevent the release of healthy oils ⌘ Read more
The much-touted advice to take 10,000 steps a day for our health has been accused of lacking evidence, but new research suggests that hitting this target has serious benefits ⌘ Read more
A proposal to define the Anthropocene, a geologic epoch defined by human activity, has been rejected – surprising even scientists who consulted the voting group ⌘ Read more
Five exomoon programmes have been picked for the James Webb Space Telescope, raising the hopes of finding moons around exoplanets for the first time ⌘ Read more
Five elephant calves have been found buried in drainage ditches on tea-growing estates in India in a rare example of burial behaviour in non-human animals ⌘ Read more
Five new varieties of Penicillium roqueforti, the fungus used to make blue cheese, might rescue the fungus from a genetic dead end and produce pharmaceutical compounds ⌘ Read more
Genetic analysis of the California two-spot octopus reveals that the species has sex chromosomes, and they may have originated up to 378 million years ago ⌘ Read more
MethaneSAT will orbit the planet 15 times a day to capture unprecedented amounts of data on methane emissions from human and natural sources ⌘ Read more
Mysterious green sunsets were reported after the massive eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 – now simulations show how they were created and just how rare they are ⌘ Read more
Tracking data shows that young white storks spend more time exploring new places, while older ones take a more direct route on their annual migrations ⌘ Read more
The ocean on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is one of the best places we have found to search for alien life, but it might have less oxygen than researchers had thought ⌘ Read more
Fetal cells retrieved from fluid in the uterus can now be turned into balls of cells called organoids, which could help diagnose and treat fetuses with a serious lung condition ⌘ Read more
What did NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to sample Bennu discover? Mission leader Dante Lauretta says the asteroid could hold clues about how life began ⌘ Read more
Existing quantum computers can solve some problems faster than any ordinary computer, but none of those problems has any practical use. Google and XPRIZE hope to change that ⌘ Read more
Gaze-tracking devices normally rely on cameras, but a new system uses reflected sound to track where someone is looking based on the shape of their eyeballs ⌘ Read more
What better way is there to celebrate pi day than with a slice of mathematics? Here are 7 mathematical facts to enjoy ⌘ Read more
Artificial intelligence has been used to replicate fragrances more quickly than conventional methods, even taking into account how a scent fades over time ⌘ Read more
Cosmic dust grains may be small, but they are mighty – it turns out dust is crucial to just about every process that occurs in space ⌘ Read more
A fear of predators may have helped many animals recognise when they weren't there. Now, it seems humans built on this understanding of absence to utilise the concept of "zero" ⌘ Read more
As part of a lawsuit against OpenAI, billionaire Elon Musk has asked a court to determine whether GPT-4 is an artificial general intelligence, capable of human-level tasks ⌘ Read more
Since Brexit, the UK no longer has access to ITER, the world's largest nuclear fusion experiment, through the European Union. After an invitation to rejoin this week, the UK government has confirmed it prefers to go it alone ⌘ Read more
With a new Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mars-set romance from Natasha Pulley and a high-concept thriller from Stuart Turton due to hit shelves, there is plenty of great new science fiction to be reading in March ⌘ Read more
When the faecal matter produced by plankton sinks, it carries carbon from shallow waters to long-term storage deep in the ocean – now, researchers want to make the stuff sink faster ⌘ Read more
23andMe's DNA test was once named "invention of the year", but now the company is in dire financial straits. Is this a sign that genetically based medicine's promise has been exaggerated? ⌘ Read more
Between 1990 and 2022, obesity rates more than doubled among adults and quadrupled among children and adolescents worldwide ⌘ Read more
A climate model has forecast where the most extreme heat will occur during the current El Niño phase, including the Caribbean and the South China Sea ⌘ Read more
For the first time in nearly a century, a new genus of plant has been discovered in Japan, but it looks more like a squid or an alien than a plant ⌘ Read more
In a small study, people with type 2 diabetes maintained their weight loss on the low-carbohydrate ketogenic for a year after they stopped using Ozempic or similar medications ⌘ Read more
The UK's JET nuclear fusion reactor has been shut down after 40 years, and now researchers hope to repurpose many of its components in a world-first attempt at recycling a tokamak ⌘ Read more
If an unfamiliar person spends 15 minutes following a dog, it tends to follow them back in a possible sign of friendship ⌘ Read more
Chatbots vary their answers depending on the exact wording used to prompt them, and now it seems that asking an AI to answer as if it were a Star Trek captain boosts its mathematical ability ⌘ Read more
An exoplanet called K2-18b has been suggested as a good place to look for alien life, but a new analysis shows it is probably made from gas ⌘ Read more
Hyaluronic acid's skincare benefits are often attributed to its supposed ability to hold 1000 times its weight in water, which new research has discredited ⌘ Read more
A large UK study suggests people who had been infected with covid-19 experienced some cognitive decline, but the findings are far from definitive ⌘ Read more
An experimental treatment for Alzheimer's disease involving sounds and flickering lights has shown promise in mice and people. Now, research suggests the novel approach ramps up our brain’s waste disposal networks ⌘ Read more
A new formula for lithium-ion batteries could help electric vehicles drive farther and charge faster even at extreme sub-zero temperatures ⌘ Read more
Looking after your skin isn't just a vanity project, with growing evidence that damage to the skin can drive ageing, inflammation and even cognitive decline ⌘ Read more
Tap water contains tiny particles of plastic and we don’t know how they affect our health – now it seems that boiling the water for 5 minutes can remove most of them ⌘ Read more
It's said that the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras came up with a theory that musical note combinations sound best in certain mathematical ratios, but that doesn't seem to be true ⌘ Read more
When lots of freshwater from Greenland pours into the North Atlantic Ocean, it triggers feedback loops that lead to hotter and drier weather in Europe, according to a study of the past 40 years ⌘ Read more
A study estimating humpback whale numbers in the North Pacific Ocean from crowdsourced photos reveals a sharp decline from 2012 to 2021 after decades of slow population growth ⌘ Read more
North America will have a total solar eclipse on 8 April – here is where, when and how to view it safely ⌘ Read more
Using an artificial intelligence model and 3D printer to create prosthetic eyes reduces the time required to make such implants, which could make them available to more people ⌘ Read more
The jeans industry uses harmful chemicals to dye denim with indigo, but an alternative process can achieve the same thing with 92 per cent less environmental impact ⌘ Read more
Learning a psychological trick to overcome your brain's tendency to stop noticing things could help you love your old clothes, notice the effects of climate change and fix gender biases, says neuroscientist Tali Sharot ⌘ Read more
With queues at public charging points getting longer, some companies are opening power swap stations where you can simply exchange your battery for a fully charged one ⌘ Read more
Many covid-19 vaccines occasionally cause side effects such as blood clots or heart inflammation, but, overall, they appear to be beneficial in preventing heart and circulatory conditions ⌘ Read more
Although they are carnivores, black-backed jackals are partial to the melon-like fruits of the @nara plant and help to disperse its seeds across the desert ⌘ Read more
Projections of flood risk due to sea-level rise on the Samoan islands underestimate the rate at which the islands are sinking after two earthquakes hit in 2009 ⌘ Read more
The hingemouth, an African freshwater fish, can stick out a proboscis for feeding or breathing thanks to the unique arrangement of its jaw anatomy ⌘ Read more
Hearing live music tugs at our heartstrings more than a recording, probably because it increases activity in an emotion-processing region in our brain ⌘ Read more
The drumming sound of the 12-millimetre-long fish Danionella cerebrum can hit 140 decibels – now scientists have figured out how they do it ⌘ Read more
Ancient and fragile papyrus samples are at risk of being damaged by fungi, but a wasabi-based treatment can disinfect them without damage ⌘ Read more
Astronomers have spotted a white dwarf star with a patch of metal near one of its magnetic poles, which probably formed when the star devoured a small planet ⌘ Read more
A small trial has strengthened the idea that foods containing the special form of starch could lead to weight loss and improve blood glucose control ⌘ Read more
Moons circling exoplanets would be some of the most promising places to look for life outside our solar system. Now, we might finally be about to find these elusive objects ⌘ Read more
The mathematical study of how repeating tiles fit together usually involves pointed shapes like triangles or squares, but these aren't normally found in the natural world ⌘ Read more
Astronomers have spotted a gargantuan protocluster – the primordial beginnings of a galaxy cluster – by searching near a quasar in the early universe ⌘ Read more
Mathematics is at the heart of modern science but we shouldn’t forget other ways to reason, says author and researcher Roland Ennos ⌘ Read more
Adding alkaline chemicals to the huge volumes of wastewater discharged into the oceans each year could increase the amount of CO2 that gets sequestered, but the idea has been controversial ⌘ Read more
A device that measures minuscule gravitational forces could help us understand how gravity works on the quantum scale ⌘ Read more
Astronomers have found a new moon around Uranus and two orbiting Neptune – the first moons discovered orbiting these planets in a decade and the faintest ever spotted ⌘ Read more
Newly released emails have revealed that the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin was aware of concerns over the potential energy use and carbon emissions of the cryptocurrency, but felt there was no alternative ⌘ Read more
A mimic of Martian soil can be turned into strong fibres. Such a material could be used to help build a base or grow plants on the Red Planet ⌘ Read more
Four-legged robots typically need an arm to open doors or pick up objects, but this mechanical canid can carry out tasks with its front leg ⌘ Read more
Biochemist Casimir Funk realised that certain compounds in our diet are essential for keeping us healthy – but he wasn't the first to isolate a vitamin ⌘ Read more
Dune seems to have defeated most directors who dared try turning the epic novel into good cinema. How does Denis Villeneuve fare in the second half of his two-part take on Frank Herbert's book? ⌘ Read more
Martin MacInnes, the author of New Scientist's latest book club pick, the Booker prize-longlisted sci-fi novel In Ascension, on how he came to write it (and a bit of a spoiler) ⌘ Read more
In this tantalising extract from Martin MacInnes’s new science fiction novel, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club, his protagonist Leigh has an epiphany while underwater ⌘ Read more
A study of around 9000 US adults has found that people are more in favour of removing toxic social media posts when they attack a member of the LGBTQ community than those targeting Christians or billionaires ⌘ Read more
Intuitive Machines has landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the moon, making it the first private company to achieve a feat previously only accomplished by national space agencies ⌘ Read more
We can already cool objects with fridges and with lasers. Now there is a third cooling technique involving special quantum states – and it could, in theory, allow us to reach the lowest temperatures yet ⌘ Read more
Pantetheine, which helps enzymes to work and is found in every organism, can be formed by simple reactions and may have played a role in the origins of life ⌘ Read more
Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed that a nearby supernova researchers have been watching since it exploded in 1987 left behind a hot neutron star ⌘ Read more
The warming avoided by planting CO2-absorbing forests could be around 15 to 30 per cent lower than previously estimated due to feedbacks such as dark trees reflecting less sunlight ⌘ Read more
The developer version of OpenAI’s leading large language model can be repurposed as an AI hacking agent, researchers have found. That could make it far easier for anyone to launch certain cyberattacks online ⌘ Read more
An artificial intelligence can interpret a mouse's brain activity to tell scientists where the animal is located and the direction it is looking ⌘ Read more
In a quantum engine, a single atom can emit radiation that bounces around a reflective cavity and creates enough pressure to push down a piston ⌘ Read more
About 80 per cent of people who received infliximab straight after diagnosis with the inflammatory bowel condition had controlled their symptoms after a year, compared with just 15 per cent of those following a standard regime ⌘ Read more
The relatives of men who produce very little or no sperm may be more likely to develop certain types of cancer than the general population ⌘ Read more
There are 86 billion neurons in your brain, roughly the same number as there are galaxies in the observable universe. Whether the mind is more complex than the cosmos, however, is up for debate ⌘ Read more
Death Valley may be the driest place in the US, but a large lake has now formed there because of severe rain ⌘ Read more
The distinctive melodies of baleen whales are produced by pushing air against a fatty cushion on one side of the larynx, and a sac lets them recycle air back into the lungs ⌘ Read more
With fresh insights into the communication between different brain networks in creative people, neuroscientists have shown how we can all produce more original ideas ⌘ Read more
We seem to generally remember where an object was located, despite forgetting its other details, a discovery that could change how we perceive eyewitness testimonies ⌘ Read more
In the hunt for an alternative to lithium-ion batteries, which can catch fire, researchers have developed an improved water-based power source ⌘ Read more
An appendage of the ovaries that had been dismissed as useless may actually help control ovulation and the menopause ⌘ Read more
Pet dogs of various breeds have been trained to detect smells related to Parkinson's disease, potentially offering a new approach to diagnosing the condition ⌘ Read more
AI-manipulated audio clips, images and videos have been used to harass people, scam money and influence elections, despite efforts to rein them in ⌘ Read more
Anthropomorphism - attributing human-like characteristics to non-human objects - is on the rise amongst technology researchers, particular when it comes to AI chatbots ⌘ Read more
Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, such as impulsivity, may have helped foragers in hunter-gatherer communities quickly move on to new areas when food sources were low ⌘ Read more
Recent research suggests teenagers’ brains are particularly suited to coping with volatility and new experiences, including socialising and venturing to unknown places ⌘ Read more
A deadly flower kills the gnats that pollinate it but may help the insects’ offspring in return, which indicates that plant-pollinator relationships may be more complex than previously thought ⌘ Read more
The bitcoin halving, which occurs once every four years, will reduce rewards for miners and some investors think it will push prices higher ⌘ Read more
Investigations into quantum computing mishaps caused by high-powered particles from space have revealed that these cosmic rays are responsible for a significant number of errors ⌘ Read more
Generative AI can rewrite political adverts on social media to target users with different personality types, making it easier to manipulate elections using personal data on a large scale ⌘ Read more
Listening to electronic music makes neurons in our brain fire in time with the beat, which appears to alter our reaction time and sense of unity ⌘ Read more
Archaeologists say a mysterious language inscribed on a 2000-year-old metal hand may be related to Basque, but linguists aren't convinced ⌘ Read more
A new kind of brain-scanning method may give a way to tell men’s and women’s brains apart, but a long history of incorrect claims in this field suggests the findings need to be further tested ⌘ Read more