Pet dogs have different patterns of brain activity when they are shown an object that doesn’t match the word they hear, suggesting they have a mental representation of what words mean ⌘ Read more
Pet dogs have different patterns of brain activity when they are shown an object that doesn’t match the word they hear, suggesting they have a mental representation of what words mean ⌘ Read more
Rediscovered magnetic recordings reveal just how extreme the largest recorded solar storm in history, the Carrington event in 1859, really was, highlighting the danger such storms could present to us nowadays ⌘ Read more
Feasting on family members may be an unorthodox way for ant queens to keep their fledgling colonies from being overrun by lethal fungi ⌘ Read more
Together, a dark-hued male crab spider and a larger, paler female resemble a flower, in what researchers suspect is the first case of cooperative mimicry ⌘ Read more
The Starship rocket destroyed its launch pad during its first launch attempt in 2023, and the explosion resembled a powerful volcanic eruption, spraying sand and chunks of debris over a huge area ⌘ Read more
Insects tend to be more abundant on organic farms than conventional ones, which may cause the pests to spill over into neighbouring fields, prompting these farmers to increase their pesticide use ⌘ Read more
A genetically modified pig kidney has been successfully transplanted into a living human – and the recipient is expected to leave hospital soon ⌘ Read more
A huge plume of sulphur dioxide from the latest eruption in Iceland is drifting across Europe, but it isn't expected to cause any significant harm ⌘ Read more
Teenagers and babies produce different chemicals in their sweat, which may be why infants are generally considered to smell sweeter ⌘ Read more
Rising temperatures are predicted to drive up food inflation by between 0.9 and 3.2 per cent a year by 2035, as crop yields suffer from extreme heat ⌘ Read more
Elon Musk's brain-computer interface firm Neuralink has released a video of its first patient, Noland Arbaugh, controlling a computer cursor with his thoughts - is this the future? ⌘ Read more
The exceptionally long white hairs on the newly named longhorn beetle Excastra albopilosa may deceive predators into thinking it’s covered in fungus ⌘ Read more
An analysis of almost 700,000 people with type 2 diabetes or obesity found that those prescribed Ozempic or Wegovy were about half as likely to develop cannabis use disorder as those taking other medications ⌘ Read more
Viagra, HRT, a statin and a painkiller slightly lowered people’s chances of dying over a 12-year study, suggesting they may have life-extending properties ⌘ Read more
A pair of blue tits were seen nesting in a tree cavity that was also inhabited by about 25 greater noctule bats, which commonly eat blue tits, but the birds lived to tell the tale ⌘ Read more
Birthrates are projected to have fallen below the replacement level, of 2.1 per woman, in more than three quarters of countries by 2050 ⌘ Read more
A dolphin that lived in the Amazon 16 million years ago grew to a length of 3.5 metres – larger than any other freshwater dolphin ⌘ Read more
Italian canoes capable of transporting people and goods have been dated to the Neolithic period, suggesting there was a bustling trade across the Mediterranean Sea ⌘ Read more
Twin stars that were born together should have the same composition, and the fact that many don’t suggests they have changed their chemistry by devouring planets ⌘ Read more
Evidence from an archaeological site in Ethiopia suggests ancient humans adapted their diet during a dry spell after the Toba volcano eruption 74,000 years ago ⌘ Read more
From the many worlds interpretation to panpsychism, theories of reality often sound absurd. Here’s how you can figure out which ones to take seriously ⌘ Read more
Researchers claim to have combined the benefits of rolling robots with those of flying drones by creating a device that rotates along the ground but hops over obstacles ⌘ Read more
Michel Talagrand has won the 2024 Abel prize for his work researching probability theory and the extremes of randomness ⌘ Read more
An analysis of work posted on a popular art-sharing website finds that users who adopted generative artificial intelligence tools increased their output, but saw a drop in novelty ⌘ Read more
Intact human brains 12,000 years old or more have been found in unexpected places such as shipwrecks and waterlogged graves, but it is unclear what preserved them ⌘ Read more
A settlement in the east of England burned down in a fire 3000 years ago, falling into a muddy waterway that preserved everything inside the houses including tools, fabric, cooking pots and more ⌘ Read more
The gene-editing strategy could be a way to disable HIV that lies dormant in immune cells, meaning people would no longer need to take daily medication ⌘ Read more
A combination of widely available antibiotics may be able to treat heart failure after researchers found that the therapy regenerates heart cells in animals ⌘ Read more
An AI model trained on data from Premier League matches can help football coaches devise tactics for attacking or defending corner kicks ⌘ Read more
Strange volcanos called kimberlites bring diamonds up from Earth's depths. Scientists have always struggled to understand why they switched off millions of years ago – but perhaps they didn't ⌘ Read more
Remote tribes in Papua New Guinea were ravaged in the 20th century by kuru, which was spread when people ate their dead relatives as part of funeral rituals – but some individuals may have had genetic resistance to the condition ⌘ Read more
2023 wasn't just the hottest year on record by far, it also saw record glacier loss, sea level rise, ocean heat and sea ice loss, says World Meteorological Organization report ⌘ Read more
Nearly 70 "forever chemicals", also known as PFAS, are commonly found in materials that come into contact with food, some of which have been linked to negative health outcomes ⌘ Read more
Researchers have studied the movements of thousands of people waiting for the opening of the San Fermín festival and found they behave like electrons circling in a magnetic field ⌘ Read more
A computer chip featuring over 400 billion transistors can train artificial intelligence models faster and using less energy, says Nvidia - but it is yet to reveal the price tag ⌘ Read more
The heating elements in vapes can release toxic metals. Now an analysis of cannabis vaping liquids shows metals like lead are present at dangerous levels – even before the vape is used ⌘ Read more
Only eating within an 8-hour window is associated with a significantly higher risk of heart disease-related death compared with eating over 12 to 16 hours ⌘ Read more
A common anti-clotting drug called heparin is made from pig intestines, which risks contaminations and infections. A safer, synthetic version has now been developed but its production needs scaling up ⌘ Read more
A southern mammoth skeleton found in Spain bears cut marks from stone tools and bite marks from carnivore teeth, suggesting that both hominins and felids feasted on its meat ⌘ Read more
Efforts to extend our lifespan continue and many look promising, but success will have unintended consequences, says Nobel prizewinner Venki Ramakrishnan ⌘ Read more
The sand dunes that splay across the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan may be made of the ground-up remains of ancient irregular moons, rather than atmospheric particles ⌘ Read more
Fermat's last theorem puzzled mathematicians for centuries until it was finally proven in 1993. Now, researchers want to create a version of the proof that can be formally checked by a computer for any errors in logic ⌘ Read more
A glare-free window that is opaque from the outside but still offers a clear view from inside could be made with a coating using billions of tiny bits of gold ⌘ Read more
Waste wood can be reconstituted into a form that can be 3D printed and used to produce furniture or other objects ⌘ Read more
Saturn’s moon Titan may have hundreds of strange ridges called yardangs that could teach us how the icy moon’s geology and conditions vary across its surface ⌘ Read more
An analysis of primate brains shows that the pattern of folds on the surface follows the same mathematical pattern across species ⌘ Read more
People with mental illness have greater amounts of damaged RNA than those without a mental health condition, which might explain the link between mental illness and age-related diseases such as cancer ⌘ Read more
A new device uses a reflective cavity, a tiny bead and an electrode to create a laser beam of sound particles ten times more powerful and much narrower than other “phonon lasers” ⌘ Read more
Many firms sell direct-to-consumer faecal testing kits, but an investigation has revealed that scientists don't yet know what makes for a healthy gut microbiome ⌘ Read more
Pythons convert food into meat more efficiently than other livestock, and they can be fed on waste meat, but this doesn't mean snake meat is inherently more sustainable ⌘ Read more
Ten years’ worth of observations of a wild chimpanzee community show that most adults stop playing when food is short, but not mothers and their young ⌘ Read more
The world’s most powerful rocket, Starship, launched from Texas and reached an altitude of more than 230 kilometres, travelling further and faster than it has done before. But it seems to have been destroyed on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere ⌘ Read more
The world’s most powerful rocket launched from Texas and reached an altitude of more than 230 kilometres. Starship carried out tests before attempting to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere to splash down in the ocean ⌘ Read more
A trial suggests that giving older dogs a supplement makes them cognitively sharper, but some scientists stress that pet owners should lower their expectations ⌘ Read more
The debris from the formation of a relatively small crater on Mars created billions of additional craters, which could help us learn about Martian geology ⌘ Read more
Wooden tablets containing a language of glyphs called Rongorongo may be evidence that the people of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, created their own writing system without the influence of European language ⌘ Read more
A nasal spray containing an anti-inflammatory molecule reduces the symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis in animals, although the treatment might come with risks in people ⌘ Read more
All major skiing regions worldwide are predicted to see a severe drop in snow days by the end of the century, with Australian resorts the worst affected ⌘ Read more
A four-legged robot can handle real-world obstacles that require scrambling up and down or leaping sizeable gaps. AI training lets it adapt to new terrain it hasn’t seen before ⌘ Read more
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that will require TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or risk a nationwide ban ⌘ Read more
There is more lurking below the surface of Arrakis than sandworms. Dune author Frank Herbert had a keen interest in fungi, and so should we, says Corrado Nai ⌘ Read more
The seafloor of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was thought to provide energy and nutrients to its ocean, but it turns out that may not be possible ⌘ Read more
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is gearing up for the third launch of its massive Starship rocket on 14 March, following two failed missions. What will the company be hoping for and what can we expect? ⌘ Read more
Most physicists believe that only a quantum theory of gravity can fully explain mysteries of the universe like dark matter, but now an idea called "post-quantum gravity" is demonstrating an alternative approach ⌘ Read more
A ‘gene drive’ that spreads through plant populations could be used to wipe out pests such as superweeds, or to help save species by making them resistant to heat or disease ⌘ Read more
The James Webb Space Telescope has found an unusual galaxy in the early universe with a black hole almost half the mass of the galaxy itself, raising questions about how it formed ⌘ Read more
Populations of moths living in urban places may have evolved smaller wings to limit how much bright city lights disrupt their lives ⌘ Read more
Since their introduction in the 1800s, giant sequoia trees in the UK have grown up to 55 metres tall and capture 85 kilograms of carbon a year on average ⌘ Read more
The US House of Representatives is voting on a bill that would require TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or risk a nationwide ban ⌘ Read more
The computers that secure cryptocurrencies like bitcoin consume large amounts of power, pushing up electricity prices and potentially contributing to climate change. Now, the US government wants to tackle the problem ⌘ Read more
Researchers simulated the wind damage from seven historical hurricanes to identify just a few key electrical lines that were crucial to protect the whole grid from cascading power failures ⌘ Read more
Most people are too risk-averse when it comes to life's biggest choices. Learning how to overcome the cognitive biases at play can help you make better decisions with fewer regrets ⌘ Read more
Some studies have claimed that plants emit sounds when stressed and might perceive the distress calls of other plants, but a review finds the evidence is lacking ⌘ Read more
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks orbits the sun every 71 years and is currently making its closest approach. Here's when and how you can see it - perhaps even during a solar eclipse ⌘ Read more
When the moon hides the sun in a total solar eclipse, some animals seem to think that it is briefly nighttime, while others pace anxiously or even gaze up at the sky ⌘ Read more
An analysis of deep-sea drill cores suggests that Mars may have enough gravitational influence to shift sediment within Earth's oceans on a 2.4-million-year cycle ⌘ Read more
A thought experiment in which all music is replaced with AI-generated "Taylor's Versions" should prompt us to find ways to protect data from AI corruption, warn researchers ⌘ Read more
The origins of Mars’s moons Phobos and Deimos have long been an enigma, but they may have been formed when a comet-like icy object slammed into the Red Planet ⌘ Read more
Antarctic sea ice cover remains far below average levels for the third year in a row, but researchers are uncertain whether this is a permanent shift driven by climate change or part of natural fluctuations ⌘ Read more
Newborns whose mothers speak two languages appear to have distinct brain responses to speech compared with those born to monolingual mothers, supporting the idea that language acquisition begins in the uterus ⌘ Read more
Lake sediments reveal the ancient history of Aboriginal people’s use of fire to manage the landscape, a tradition that has benefits for biodiversity ⌘ Read more
Bolstered by impressive clinical trials, some companies are offering ketamine therapy as an employee health benefit – but what risks are posed by the drug's newfound popularity? ⌘ Read more
Unlike most other animals, the cave-dwelling Mexican tetra doesn’t get a fatty liver when it is malnourished – and its secrets could lead to medical benefits for other species ⌘ Read more
Two fossil claws found on Seymour Island reveal that phorusrhacids, or terror birds, lived in Antarctica 50 million years ago and were probably the apex predator ⌘ Read more
Palestinians face a protracted health disaster as physical injuries, mental health issues and malnutrition are widespread in Gaza – and major health groups have no firm plans to address it ⌘ Read more
A memory device that temporarily saves quantum information could become an important addition to quantum networks because it would allow users to salvage information if it fails to transfer properly ⌘ Read more
When answering questions posed in Chinese, French, German or Russian, large language models seem to process the queries in English, which could create cultural issues ⌘ Read more
South of New Orleans, a project to divert the Mississippi river could restore ecosystems destroyed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and build new land to protect against sea level rise ⌘ Read more
All known natural phenomena fit into just a few categories and unifying them all is quantum field theory, says physicist Matt Strassler ⌘ Read more
As a clownfish spends time with an anemone, its mucus coating begins to change. Chemical tweaks to sugars in the slime may calm stinging cells in anemone tentacles ⌘ Read more
After hatching from eggs, young ringed caecilians feed on their mother’s skin, but also on a milk-like substance secreted from her rear end ⌘ Read more
The results, of 13 per cent weight loss after three months, need to be confirmed by larger and longer studies, but are seen as promising ⌘ Read more
Quantum computing firm D-Wave says its machines are the first to achieve "computational supremacy" by solving a practically useful problem that would otherwise take millions of years on an ordinary supercomputer ⌘ Read more
Mass mortality events at salmon farms have been getting more frequent since 2011, sometimes killing millions of fish at once, with causes including heatwaves and poor living conditions ⌘ Read more
By rotating a tank of water at 75 revolutions per minute, it’s possible to replicate some of the stunning, swirling patterns on Jupiter’s surface ⌘ Read more
Large language models still demonstrate racial prejudice against speakers of African American English, despite the safety guard rails implemented by tech companies such as OpenAI ⌘ Read more
February was the ninth month in a row to set a global heat record, with global average temperatures 1.77°C above the pre-industrial average for the month ⌘ Read more
People with artery plaques containing microplastics were about four times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those with plastic-free plaques ⌘ Read more
The sinking of land caused by the extraction of water and fossil fuels is exacerbating the threat of sea level rise in coastal US cities including New Orleans ⌘ Read more
A company called Colossal claims it has taken a "momentous step" towards bringing back the mammoth. Here's all you need to know about whether such a feat is possible ⌘ Read more