New Scientist

New Scientist covers the latest developments in science and technology that will impact your world. New Scientist employs and commissions the best writers in their fields from all over the world. Our editorial team provide cutting-edge news, award-winning features and reports, written in concise and clear language that puts discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life today and in the future.

Elsewhere on New Scientist

Open science • We should discuss controversial research in public to avoid a backlash

New Scientist

Bird’s-eye view of a Starship

Europe faces wave of hot summers • A big ice melt in Greenland last year could trigger hotter, drier weather in Europe this year and next, according to a study of the past four decades, finds Michael Le Page

Organoids made from uterus fluid could help treat medical conditions before birth

Smart glasses can ‘hear’ where you are looking

Google launches quantum quest • A $5 million prize aims to help quantum computers live up to their potential

Lone orca seen hunting a great white shark

Lasting pain after a UTI may be due to excess nerve cells

Earliest known sex chromosomes evolved in ancient octopuses

Field notes JET nuclear fusion reactor, Oxfordshire, UK • How do you recycle a nuclear fusion reactor? In a world-first recycling attempt, engineers are hoping to learn key lessons to enhance future nuclear fusion projects, finds Matthew Sparkes

Something from nothing • The absence of predators to worry about may have helped us conceptualise the idea of “zero”

Miso paste made in space opens new food frontier

Analysis Personalised medicine • Does 23andMe’s decline show genetic-based medicine has been overhyped? For years, personal genetics firm 23andMe has seemed to represent the future of healthcare, but now it is in dire financial straits. What went wrong, asks Clare Wilson

Pythagoras was wrong about music • The idea that musical notes sound best in certain mathematical combinations doesn’t seem true

Magnetic particles turn water drops into acrobats

Promising exoplanet may not be habitable ocean world after all

Light flashes may slow Alzheimer’s by making the brain remove toxins

AI maths skills get a Star Trek boost • Chatbots get better at sums if you ask them to answer as if they were a Starfleet captain

Follow a dog for 15 minutes to make a new friend

Analysis Coronavirus • Does even a mild case of covid-19 affect your cognitive skills? A big study suggests that people who catch the disease do worse on cognitive tests, but the findings are far from definitive, says Michael Le Page

Hyaluronic acid skin benefits oversold

AI designs bespoke 3D-printed eyes

Greener way to dye denim could cut its climate impact

Really brief

Mind your manners • Living in close proximity to strangers requires shared social norms, but the concept of civility can be used to divide us, says Kirsty Sedgman

Field notes from space-time • Elementary physics An experiment to study the elusive neutrino particle is also providing the perfect conditions to seek evidence of proton decay, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Worlds apart

Life and climate, a co-production • The histories of Earth’s climate and ecosystems are completely connected, as a smart, whistle-stop tour of the past makes clear, says Michael Marshall

A world to win… • Dune defeats most directors. How does Denis Villeneuve fare in the second instalment of his take on the novel, asks Simon Ings

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Islands of wonder • A zoologist’s exploits in Indonesia, with exotic beasts and wild men, reads like an adventure story. But in important ways, it is the real...