Artificial intelligence is taking on some of the hardest problems in pure maths, arguably demonstrating sophisticated reasoning and creativity – and a big step forward for AI ⌘ Read more
Artificial intelligence is taking on some of the hardest problems in pure maths, arguably demonstrating sophisticated reasoning and creativity – and a big step forward for AI ⌘ Read more
Inflamed gum tissue may allow bacteria in the mouth to enter the bloodstream, which could affect the heart ⌘ Read more
Avi Wigderson has won the 2023 Turing award for his work on understanding how randomness can shape and improve computer algorithms ⌘ Read more
Adding more masts could reduce the overall energy use of phone networks by two-thirds and boost handset battery life by 50 per cent ⌘ Read more
Nobel prizewinning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs has died aged 94. He proposed the particle that gives other particles mass – now named the Higgs boson and discovered by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in 2012 ⌘ Read more
An oral vaccine in the form of a pineapple-flavoured spray prevented recurrent urinary tract infections in 53.9 per cent of clinical trial participants ⌘ Read more
An excavation on an island in the Coral Sea shows that Indigenous Australians were producing ceramics long before the arrival of Europeans ⌘ Read more
Nobel prizewinning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs has died aged 94. He proposed the particle that gives other particles mass – now named the Higgs boson and discovered by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in 2012 ⌘ Read more
The expansion rate of the universe, measured by the Hubble constant, has been one of the most controversial numbers in cosmology for years, and we seem at last to be close to nailing it down ⌘ Read more
If your life feels aimless and joyless, you may be languishing, says psychologist Corey Keyes — who reveals how it differs from depression and what you can do to flourish instead ⌘ Read more
A new way of interpreting the elusive mathematics of quantum mechanics could fundamentally change our understanding of reality ⌘ Read more
Researchers have used quantum light to create a magnetic field with a strength that is measured in imaginary numbers ⌘ Read more
Releasing 1 gigatonne of ground-up olivine on coastal shelves each year could help lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, find researchers, but questions remain over the ecological impact ⌘ Read more
Every month since April 2023 has been the hottest on record, as climate continues its record-breaking streak ⌘ Read more
On 8 April, a total solar eclipse passed over Mexico, the US and Canada – here are some of the most stunning images ⌘ Read more
People with long covid after a serious covid-19 infection have raised levels of many immune molecules in their blood. Better understanding how these molecules can vary could lead to more targeted treatments ⌘ Read more
One in three adults have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – often without knowing. Now we understand what causes this stealthy condition and how to reverse it ⌘ Read more
A modern butchery experiment using replicas of Stone Age tools raises new questions about how often prehistoric peoples hunted large animals such as bison or mammoths ⌘ Read more
The eclipse is about to begin. Totality will arrive at Mexico’s west coast around 11.07am local time, moving east until it leaves Newfoundland, Canada, around 5.16pm there ⌘ Read more
The next time a total solar eclipse will be visible from the UK is decades away, but there are other places nearby that will experience one sooner ⌘ Read more
A study of more than 220,000 people found that cannabis use during pregnancy was associated with their children having roughly twice the risk of ADHD, autism and intellectual disability ⌘ Read more
The eclipse is about to begin. Totality will arrive at Mexico’s west coast around 11.07am local time, moving east until it leaves Newfoundland, Canada, around 5.16pm there ⌘ Read more
From building an eclipse viewer to using the sun to pop balloons, here's a child-friendly activity guide for April's eclipse ⌘ Read more
Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein calculated the entropy of a black hole in the 1970s, but it took physicists until now to figure out the quantum effects that make the formula work ⌘ Read more
California’s rare sequoias rely on high heat to disperse their seeds, and efforts to reduce the size of wildfires may be damaging their ability to reproduce ⌘ Read more
One total solar eclipse changed physics forever – and even to this day these celestial phenomena are astonishing viewers and teaching us crucial lessons about the universe ⌘ Read more
A popular idea links primates living on the ground with a tendency for right-handedness, but findings from urban langurs in India cast doubt on the idea ⌘ Read more
Diving at One Tree Island in one of the most highly protected parts of the Great Barrier Reef reveals the shocking extent of the latest mass bleaching event ⌘ Read more
Can cultivating positive behaviours and tweaking our lifestyles lead to healthier, happier lives – even longer lives? Discover the daily choices that may make the difference in a fascinating new book ⌘ Read more
Combining PSA blood tests with MRI scans is making the screening less harmful, but it still should be targeted only at high-risk groups, such as men who are Black or have a family history of prostate cancer, says a new report ⌘ Read more
Where in our body we feel the physical sensation of hearing music seems to depend on how surprising the piece's chords are ⌘ Read more
When asked to imagine a hypothetical sexual encounter, bisexual women anticipated that they would be more likely to orgasm with another woman than with a man ⌘ Read more
A network of sensors stretching from San Francisco to Sonoma county’s vineyards shows that electric vehicles have helped lower carbon emissions by almost 2 per cent per year within the Bay Area ⌘ Read more
Protected zones are meant to let adult fish populations recover from overfishing, but an analysis of 111 sites in the Caribbean finds that this is not happening in most cases ⌘ Read more
Trees use circadian genes to time photosynthesis and reproduction – but as temperatures rise, the clocks may not work as well ⌘ Read more
Amino acids and other molecules important to the origin of life can be enriched within networks of rocky fractures, which would have been common on the early Earth ⌘ Read more
The covid-19 pandemic saw a pronounced uptick in anxiety levels globally, but levels were rising in some countries before the pandemic began. The race is on to explain this trend ⌘ Read more
Evidence points to more children today feeling anxious than a few years ago, with a complicated picture emerging encompassing everything from the pandemic to social media ⌘ Read more
There can be no doubt that extreme anxiety is highly debilitating, but at moderate levels, our nervous feelings can make us smarter problem solvers and fuel original thinking ⌘ Read more
It can be difficult to identify satellites that have lost power, increasing the risk of a dangerous collision in space, but licence plates could be a solution ⌘ Read more
Garter snakes may recognise their own scent and react differently when it is altered, hinting at self-awareness in reptiles ⌘ Read more
Previous research suggests that babies can recognise nursery rhymes that were sung to them while they were in the uterus. Now, scientists have found they also seem to remember nursery rhymes that are spoken with no tune ⌘ Read more
Researchers made an AI image generator produce less offensive images by feeding it a tiny amount of additional training data ⌘ Read more
A strange world is being stretched out of shape by its neighbouring planets, heating it up so intensely that it probably has a molten surface ⌘ Read more
The fungus yartsa gunbu, which grows by turning caterpillars into zombies, is prized in traditional medicine, but its harvest is having an increased ecological impact on its native Himalayan home ⌘ Read more
An experimental therapy that grows miniature livers inside a person’s lymph nodes has been used in a human for the first time, but it will be months before we know if it fully replaces their liver function ⌘ Read more
What anxiety actually is has puzzled scientists for decades. Now we are starting to figure out how it may arise from miscommunication between the body and the brain ⌘ Read more
A tiny clump of stars orbiting our galaxy should have been ripped apart by the Milky Way, but its continued existence hints it may be held together by a massive amount of dark matter ⌘ Read more
A person in Texas has been infected with bird flu after exposure to dairy cows who had the virus – it is the first time a human has contracted the disease from a mammal ⌘ Read more
Pitcairn Island, one of the remotest places on Earth, was once home to mutineers. Today it’s a trailblazer in biodiversity protection with lessons for us all ⌘ Read more
AI allows robots to listen to verbal instructions while learning to correctly perform household tasks. That could enable more natural interactions between humans and robots ⌘ Read more
Records of total solar eclipses go back thousands of years, and in all that time they have allowed scientists to uncover key information about not just the sun but the whole universe ⌘ Read more
Intense exercise may make the body compensate for energy used during this vigorous activity by reducing other forms of energy use, leading to weight gain, according to a study in mice ⌘ Read more
There’s an abundance of exciting new science fiction out in April, by writers including The Three-Body Problem author Cixin Liu, Douglas Preston and Lionel Shriver ⌘ Read more
When people were challenged to debate contentious topics with a human or GPT-4, they were more likely to be won over by the artificial intelligence ⌘ Read more
A new equation shows a surprisingly simple relationship between pressure and the temperature needed to melt any solid substance into a liquid ⌘ Read more
A global analysis of heatwaves over a span of 40 years shows that they are getting more frequent, moving slower and lasting longer ⌘ Read more
A brain region critical for memory is smaller in older adults with fewer than 10 teeth than in those who have most of their teeth, suggesting that tooth loss may precede the development of dementia ⌘ Read more
Genome analysis as a way of helping people with baffling medical conditions has so far mainly been seen as a diagnostic tool for babies and children, but it also helps adults ⌘ Read more
Solar scientists have been preparing for years for a 4-minute window, during the total solar eclipse on 8 April, in which they will study the sun's corona ⌘ Read more
A super-stretchy hydrogel can stretch to 15 times its original length and return to its initial shape, and could be used to make soft inflatable robots ⌘ Read more
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon spacecraft has sent back images after surviving its second lunar night – generally these periods are so cold they destroy spacecraft electronics ⌘ Read more
The mainstream view is that Alzheimer's starts in the brain, but researchers were able to transfer the condition in mice by injections of bone marrow ⌘ Read more
Gamers seemed to be more comfortable after playing in a specialist gaming chair compared with a standard office chair ⌘ Read more
How the Red Planet acquired its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, is unknown – they could have formed after something collided with the planet, or started out as asteroids – but now there is a hint of a cometary origin ⌘ Read more
The light signature from GLASS-z12, one of the most distant galaxies we have ever seen, suggests some of its stars have already exploded as supernovae ⌘ Read more
We already have evidence that rock dust can remove carbon dioxide from the air – now there are signs that spreading the dust on farm fields also enhances crop growth ⌘ Read more
Three experiments have been selected to fly to the moon alongside NASA’s Artemis III astronauts, all designed to help with future long-term stays on the moon and eventually Mars ⌘ Read more
A novel antibody therapy makes the immune system of old mice appear younger, allowing the animals to better fend off infections and reduce inflammation ⌘ Read more
Gravitons, the particles thought to carry gravity, have never been seen in space – but something very similar has been detected in a semiconductor ⌘ Read more
There are thousands of species at risk of extinction, and we can’t save them all – how do conservationists think about which ones to focus on? ⌘ Read more
We are finally getting to grips with why solitude is so important. Here's how to use your alone time to get the biggest boost to your health and relationships ⌘ Read more
Many medical implants run on batteries that need to be recharged, but what if you could do so just by breathing? ⌘ 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
The black hole at the centre of our galaxy, known as Sagittarius A\\*, has been captured in polarised light to reveal its magnetic field ⌘ Read more*
The record for the most accurate clock has been broken in an experiment with strontium atoms almost as cold as absolute zero, and it is twice as accurate as any predecessor ⌘ Read more
The large language models behind AI chatbots are developing so rapidly that after eight months, a model only needs half the computing power to hit the same benchmark score - which is much faster than the rate at which computer chips improve ⌘ Read more
Horses show signs of stress if people touch them while they are tethered, but they appear much less anxious if they are able to walk away ⌘ Read more
Toilet paper made from bamboo is supposed to be more eco-friendly than traditional paper made from virgin wood pulp. But new tests suggest some products contain as little as 3 per cent bamboo ⌘ Read more
Insufficient sleep seems to result in people feeling older than they are, with a higher "subjective age" previously being linked to depression ⌘ Read more
An explosive found inside many bombs and shells used during the first and second world wars is becoming more likely to explode in response to impacts ⌘ Read more
The US Department of Agriculture has detected bird flu in dairy cows from Texas and Kansas – the first time the virus has been found in cattle ⌘ Read more
Some basic equipment can help you safely enjoy the eclipse on 8 April – here's how to easily make what you need ⌘ Read more
An AI model trained on chemical and perceptual data on 250 Belgian beers can predict the flavour profile of a brew – and how to make it tastier ⌘ Read more
Claudia de Rham thinks that gravitons, hypothetical particles thought to carry gravity, have mass. If she’s right, we can expect to see “rainbows” in ripples in space-time ⌘ Read more
An AI forecaster based on the language model GPT-4 can predict the outcome of future events more accurately than single humans. In some cases, it can even outperform the “wisdom of crowds” ⌘ Read more
The rollout of heat pumps and other green heating technologies is going far too slowly in the UK – here’s what’s needed to get it moving ⌘ Read more
A robot that can design, build and test objects made from folded paper can make paper planes that fly further than ones made by a human having the same number of attempts ⌘ Read more
A unique site in Brazil features rock carvings closely associated with dinosaur tracks, suggesting prehistoric people saw the footprints as meaningful ⌘ Read more
The Luna structure, a 1.8-kilometre-wide depression in north-west India, may have been caused by the largest meteorite to strike Earth in the past 50,000 years ⌘ Read more
When recounting an episode of the children's TV show Pingu, people from Italy made an average of 22 gestures per 100 words, compared with 11 for Swedish people ⌘ Read more
Smoke from wildfires made worse by climate change is set to cause thousands of additional deaths each year in the US ⌘ Read more
Why childhood is so protracted has long been mysterious, now a spate of archaeological discoveries suggest an intriguing explanation ⌘ Read more
The author of In Ascension, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club, on why he wrote his novel, cultivating a sense of wonder and the role of fiction in the world today ⌘ Read more
Changes in wind patterns and desertification may be increasing the amount of dust from the Sahara desert blown over western Europe and the frequency of these events ⌘ Read more
Japanese tits sometimes flutter their wings in an apparent gesture of encouraging their mate to enter their shared nest first ⌘ Read more
An analysis of viral genomes shows it is more common for viruses to jump from humans to other animals than the other way around ⌘ Read more
A 38-centimetre-tall deer, found in an arid region in the central Andes, is the first new deer species found in South America for over 60 years ⌘ Read more
Later this year, NASA is launching its Europa Clipper spacecraft to the icy moon of Jupiter. Its mission is only to investigate whether the moon is habitable, but now researchers have found that one of its instruments could look for direct signs of life ⌘ Read more
Isotopic analysis of horse teeth from a medieval burial site suggest that the animals were imported to England from Scandinavia or the Alps, perhaps for use in battle or jousting ⌘ Read more