Children are more likely to be hospitalised for asthma complications during a heatwave, a problem that is expected to get worse with climate change ⌘ Read more
Children are more likely to be hospitalised for asthma complications during a heatwave, a problem that is expected to get worse with climate change ⌘ Read more
A contentious meeting of physicists highlighted concerns, failures and possible fixes for a crisis in condensed matter physics ⌘ Read more
A common species of orchid seems to pass food packages to nearby seedlings, in a kind of plant parental care ⌘ Read more
A group of doctors and scientists is getting behind the controversial idea that people can be addicted to certain trigger foods, in the same way as drugs and alcohol. The team says this addiction should be treated with abstinence, which goes against mainstream medical advice ⌘ Read more
Analysis of pollen in sediment cores from a large lake in Greece shows that nomadic livestock herders took over the region after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire ⌘ Read more
Strange quantum characteristics of molecules can weather the chaos of chemical reactions, which may benefit quantum technologies or unveil hidden natural phenomena ⌘ Read more
You can blank out certain types of background noise and focus on just one conversation using prototype noise-cancelling headphones ⌘ Read more
Soil core samples show an ancient riverbed under the desert near many Egyptian pyramids, revealing an ancient waterway that dried up thousands of years ago ⌘ Read more
Wildlife photographer Johanna Turner used a trail camera to capture this cheery shot of a black bear, which is going viral after she posted it on social media ⌘ Read more
Researchers have discovered the gene variant responsible for a distinctive colour pattern seen in cats in Finland, named salmiak after a variety of liquorice ⌘ Read more
Energy-saving networks that link smart devices, solar panels and batteries could regulate power demand and help avoid fossil fuel use at peak times ⌘ Read more
A virtual assistant for surgeons translates text prompts into commands for a robot, offering a simple way to instruct machines to carry out small tasks in operations ⌘ Read more
For the first time, astronomers have observed the area right at the edge of a black hole where matter stops orbiting and plunges straight in at near light speed ⌘ Read more
Artificial compound eyes made without the need for expensive and precise lenses could provide cheap visual sensors for robots and driverless cars ⌘ Read more
Ageism is a widespread global prejudice. It's about time we started acknowledging our unconscious bias towards old age – not least because our own future health depends on it ⌘ Read more
With big announcements about the latest artificial intelligence models this week, tech firms are competing to have the most exciting products - but generative AI remains hampered by issues ⌘ Read more
Researchers aiming to create a secure quantum version of the internet need a device called a quantum repeater, which doesn't yet exist - but now two teams say they are well on the way to building one ⌘ Read more
A solar energy absorber that uses quartz to trap heat reached 1050°C in tests and could offer a way to decarbonise the production of steel and cement ⌘ Read more
If a building is hit with an earthquake or explosives, the entire thing can collapse – but a design balancing strong and weak structural connections lets part of it fall while preserving the rest ⌘ Read more
Ageism is pervasive, accepted and invisible. Stamping out this prejudice won’t just benefit society, it will also have huge payoffs for those people who hold it ⌘ Read more
The direct air capture industry got a boost last week with the opening of Mammoth, the largest plant yet for sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but questions remain about whether the technology can scale up ⌘ Read more
In coming decades, major groundwater sources may become economically unfeasible — this could raise food prices and shift diets, among other impacts ⌘ Read more
Using a new approach, scientists have successfully frozen and thawed brain organoids and cubes of brain tissue from someone with epilepsy, which could enable better research into neurological conditions ⌘ Read more
Animal life on Earth existed for over half a billion years before hominins hit the scene – a complex combination of environmental changes, innovations in technology and competition may have led to us ⌘ Read more
The Arctic could see a surge of jellyfish as climate change leads to warmer waters and less ice – a process known as “jellification” ⌘ Read more
The one-day courses were particularly beneficial to those pupils with worse mental health problems initially ⌘ Read more
From how well they work to side effects such as hair loss, here’s the skinny on new weight loss injections that work by blocking a hormone that normally reduces appetite ⌘ Read more
The nasal flu vaccine may reduce cases of pneumonia illness in population over the whole flu season because flu infections are likely to lead to even higher boost in bacteria ⌘ Read more
Gravitational waves can be lensed by massive galaxies so that they repeat, like an echo. Scientists are now readying to snare their first one and explore the cosmic secrets it holds ⌘ Read more
Galaxies could do with a few more arms or some decorative designs – on this episode of Dead Planets Society, our hosts are using collisions, black holes and dark matter to reshape our galaxy ⌘ Read more
Underwater data centres being installed off the coasts of China, the US and Europe could be disrupted by sounds from military-grade sonar on ships and submarines, or even whales ⌘ Read more
A white dwarf star orbiting a sun-like star was thought to be impossibly small, but now astronomers have found another star in the system that solves the puzzle ⌘ Read more
Genetic analysis of 50,000-year-old Neanderthal skeletons has uncovered the remnants of three viruses related to modern human pathogens, and the researchers think they could be recreated ⌘ Read more
OpenAI's new ChatGPT model, called GPT-4o, provides more human-like interactions through a voice mode, and it is capable of conversations that incorporate text, audio and video in real time ⌘ Read more
A sticky liquid made from vegetable oil could be sprayed onto plants to catch small pests such as thrips without affecting larger insects such as bees ⌘ Read more
Mice given unlimited access to alcohol recovered faster after consuming a gel based on a milk protein, with the same treatment also preventing intoxication in another group of mice. If proved safe and effective in humans, it could offer a quick way to sober up ⌘ Read more
Outrunning prey over long distances is an efficient method of hunting for humans, and it was widely used until recently, according to an analysis of ethnographic accounts ⌘ Read more
When light strikes a soft robot made from a twisted strip of hydrogel sheets, it moves in a predictable way and can climb a vertical rod or haul up a load ⌘ Read more
If a lavender scent is sprayed into pig pens three times a day, the animals show less aggressive behaviour and appear more relaxed ⌘ Read more
A study of more than 2 million people in 168 countries suggests that having access to the internet is linked to higher life satisfaction, but many questions remain unanswered ⌘ Read more
Ultra-fast pulses of laser light can be shaped into vortices similar to smoke rings – when chained together, they can carry enough information to transmit a simple image ⌘ Read more
A rare geomagnetic storm not seen for nearly 20 years could cause a stunning aurora borealis on 10 and 11 May ⌘ Read more
Sufficiently advanced aliens would be able to capture vast quantities of energy from their star using a massive structure called a Dyson sphere. Such a device would give off an infrared heat signature - and astronomers have just spotted 60 stars that seem to match ⌘ Read more
Heavy, prolonged or painful menstrual periods are associated with more days off school and scoring worse on compulsory exams in a UK study ⌘ Read more
A centuries-old maths problem asks what shape a circle traces out as it rolls along a line. The answer, dubbed a “cycloid”, turns out to have applications in a variety of scientific fields ⌘ Read more
With a bit of training, macaques can make rhythmic movements in time with music, an ability only shown before by a handful of animals ⌘ Read more
People who can run a mile in less than 4 minutes generally live almost five years longer than would otherwise be expected, challenging the idea that too much strenuous exercise is bad for the heart ⌘ Read more
Surprising recent measurements hint that the universe isn’t expanding in the way we had thought, and it could be explained by still-theoretical dark radiation ⌘ Read more
For decades, cosmologists have been fighting over the Hubble constant, a number that represents the expansion rate of the universe – it may have finally been pinned down ⌘ Read more
We are generally as reluctant to contact a long-lost friend as we are to talk to a stranger, but scientists have come up with an approach so it's easier to make the first move ⌘ Read more
A new robotic hand can withstand being smashed by pistons or walloped with a hammer. It was designed to survive the trial-and-error interactions required to train AI robots ⌘ Read more
The quantum principle of superposition – the idea of particles being in multiple places at once – could help make quantum batteries that charge within minutes ⌘ Read more
Around 3000 years ago, several empires and kingdoms in the Mediterranean collapsed, with a group of sea-faring warriors implicated as the culprit. But new evidence shows that many of our ideas about this turbulent time need completely rethinking ⌘ Read more
The latest version of the AlphaFold AI can help biologists predict how proteins interact with each other and other molecules, which is a boon to pharmaceutical research ⌘ Read more
A compound emitted by the Colorado river toad may reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in a similar way to LSD and psilocybin, according to a study in mice ⌘ Read more
From your popcorn bag to your waterproof jacket, forever chemicals are all around us. We're finally starting to understand what they are doing to our health - and how to get rid of them ⌘ Read more
Cold-brewing coffee can reduce its bitter taste, but it normally takes up to 24 hours as the grounds slowly steep. A new method that involves pummelling the grounds with ultrasound can drastically speed up the process ⌘ Read more
Concern over the risks of enabling nuclear weapons development is usually focused on nuclear fission reactors, but the potential harm from more advanced fusion reactors has been underappreciated ⌘ Read more
Global temperatures in April 2024 were 1.6°C higher than the average for April during the pre-industrial era ⌘ Read more
Birman and Burmese cats typically live for more than 14 years while sphynxes live less than half as long on average, finds a study of pet cats in the UK ⌘ Read more
The rapid growth of solar power led to a record-breaking year for clean energy generation in 2023, and the year is expected to mark the start of a long-term decline in fossil fuels ⌘ Read more
Analysis of thousands of exchanges between the intelligent cetaceans suggests they combine short click patterns – similar to letters of the alphabet - into longer sequences ⌘ Read more
A practical superconductor would transform the efficiency of electronics. After decades of hunting, several key breakthroughs are inching us very close to this coveted prize ⌘ Read more
Software that has been blocked from connecting to the internet should be secure from hacking attempts, but now researchers have found a way to sneak data out by varying the speed of the computer's processor ⌘ Read more
The strategy for tracking bird flu in US dairy cattle falls worryingly short of what is needed to prevent the outbreak from widening and potentially spreading to humans ⌘ Read more
An implantable heart pump could help children with heart failure awaiting transplants forego bulky devices that require long hospital stays ⌘ Read more
Two astronauts are about to set off for the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule. If all goes well, Starliner will join SpaceX’s Dragon as a US shuttle into orbit ⌘ Read more
A robot that moves around by balancing on a ball could prove a better assistant for wheelchair users than humanoid robots that walk on two legs ⌘ Read more
A quantum bit inspired by Schrödinger’s cat can resist making errors for an unprecedentedly long time, which makes it a candidate for building less error-prone quantum computers ⌘ Read more
Information contained within quantum objects gets scrambled when they interact. Physicists have now derived a speed limit for this process, challenging the idea that black holes are the fastest data scramblers ⌘ Read more
Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilities ⌘ Read more
A surprise discovery has revealed that female stink bugs have a small indent on their hind legs that they use for cultivating fungi before spreading it on their eggs ⌘ Read more
The inactivation of one copy of the X chromosome in female mammals may start to fail as they get older, which may be why women have a higher risk of autoimmune conditions such as lupus ⌘ Read more
Simulations of the crust of early Earth show that cycles of pressure caused by geysers or tidal forces could have generated cell-like structures and even very simple proteins ⌘ Read more
If all goes well, the Chang’e 6 probe will be the first ever to land on the far side of the moon to take samples and bring them back to Earth ⌘ Read more
Strange bursts of radio waves called FRBs have long been mysterious, and one of the most famous sources of these flashes may have an unexpected planet ⌘ Read more
Plants are often celebrated for the parts that are easy to see – flower, leaves, fruit – but scientists are uncovering the secrets of their more mysterious underground networks ⌘ Read more
Climate change could be fueling bumblebee population loss by making hives too hot to handle ⌘ Read more
A male Sumatran orangutan chewed the leaves of a plant used in Indonesian traditional medicine and placed them on a wound on his face ⌘ Read more
Levels of protection measles provided by the MMR jab fall by a small amount every year, according to mathematical modelling ⌘ Read more
An analysis of the 2021 German federal elections has found that for every 200,000 times a politician's social media adverts were viewed, their vote share increased by 2.1 per cent - a potentially low-cost way of swinging elections ⌘ Read more
The skull of Shanidar Z was found in the Shanidar cave in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and has been painstakingly put back together ⌘ Read more
The record-breaking heat of 2023 has seen a rare disagreement break out between climate scientists, with some saying it shows Earth may have entered a new period of warming ⌘ Read more
Corals can survive heat-related bleaching, but research from the Great Barrier Reef suggests a full recovery may take longer than we thought ⌘ Read more
Blake Crouch's riveting Dark Matter sees physics professor Jason wanting out of the multiverse, after being kidnapped and dumped there by another version of himself ⌘ Read more
Finnair has cancelled flights to Tartu in Estonia this month because of an ongoing GPS jamming attack – and there is evidence that the attack is being controlled from Russia ⌘ Read more
By ignoring declining air pollution, regional climate models have greatly underestimated how hot Europe's summers and heatwaves will become ⌘ Read more
My colleagues call me a supervillain for trying to destroy the cosmos, but this kind of imaginative thinking isn't so far from what scientists do, says space reporter Leah Crane ⌘ Read more
The future prime minister of this increasingly powerful nation should be prepared to play a key role in global climate policy ⌘ Read more
Chemists have found a link between the taste of a beverage and the shapes formed by its water and ethanol molecules, which explains why spirits like whisky taste more alcoholic at warmer temperatures ⌘ Read more
Disrupted gut microbiomes in male mice increase their offspring’s risk of low birth weight, stunted growth and premature death ⌘ Read more
Incredible results from trials of several new medications show they can prevent potentially deadly reactions to foods like peanuts, eggs and dairy - and may one day treat asthma ⌘ Read more
People who were asked to recall past events that made them angry experienced a change to their blood vessels that has been linked with heart attacks ⌘ Read more
A bristly bump on some mantises’ chests is a never-before-seen “gustifolium”, which may have evolved to help the insects with their highly specialised lifestyles ⌘ Read more
A new Stephen King short story collection, an Ursula K. Le Guin reissue and a celebration of cyberpunk featuring writing from Philip K. Dick and Cory Doctorow are among the new science fiction titles published this month ⌘ Read more
Spiked running shoes with a rubbery material between the inner and outer soles, and a stiff plate to improve stability, seem to help people move faster ⌘ Read more
Lunar settlers could avoid health problems like muscle wasting by running on the inside of a circular wall to mimic the pull of Earth’s gravity on the body ⌘ Read more
A process to dissolve the mineral olivine in acid could provide a plentiful, energy-efficient material for carbon-negative cement ⌘ Read more
Long feted by fossil hunters and geologists, if UNESCO recognises the extraordinary rock formation at Madygen in Kyrgyzstan, it will soon be a player on the world stage ⌘ Read more
Total solar eclipses are astonishing, but travelling to get to one is less so – this episode of Dead Planets Society is all about rearranging the solar system to create a more convenient eclipse ⌘ Read more