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
Solving the chemicals crisis • Human ingenuity and innovation caused this emergency – and they can solve it
New Scientist
Spyware scandal • With new revelations on how our phones are being hacked, can Silicon Valley do anything to stop it, asks Matthew Sparkes
How do we live with covid-19? • The UK government has said it is now time to “learn to live with covid”. Here’s what that looks like, write Graham Lawton, Michael Le Page, Adam Vaughan and Clare Wilson
‘Borg’ DNA assimilates genes • Stretches of DNA found in microbes steal genetic information from other organisms
How Galapagos giant tortoises avoid cancer
Noise-cancelling genes stop bats losing their hearing
Methane-burping microbes may live near Curiosity rover
Field notes Port Lympne Reserve, Kent, UK • Meet the puzzle-solving gorillas Watching how great apes learn to get nuts out of puzzle boxes might help us understand the neural underpinnings of language, finds Clare Wilson
We may finally solve the mystery of how fast the universe is expanding
Trilobite survived a fight with giant sea scorpion
Large-scale quantum computers one step closer
Climate change to blame for monarch butterfly decline
EU’s carbon tax will apply globally • Is there really a global appetite for climate action? A new EU tax will let us know
3D-printed steel bridge takes the load in Amsterdam
Cannabis was domesticated 12,000 years ago in China
Spotting infection just by looking at you
3D-printed hand plays Super Mario Bros
Really brief
Finger sweat could power health sensors
Legal levels of lead in US tap water can still cause harm
Printed shape tests out 150-year-old idea
Halt the mineral rush • We have just two years to stop a potential environmental disaster due to deep-sea mining. Here’s how we do it, says Helen Scales
Field notes from space-time • The eternal debate about eternal inflation The idea that the universe is continually inflating isn’t confirmed and there are still some misconceptions about it, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Your letters
First for nature
Naturally high • Opium, caffeine and mescaline shaped the world for millennia. An intriguing book tracks their influence through the experiences of its author, says Gege Li
Amazing animal senses • The wealth of invention in the natural world is mind-blowing. Take the spiders that rebuild their eyes to hunt, says Simon Ings
Don’t miss
The deep mystery of Katla • In Vík, an Icelandic coastal town, missing people are emerging from a deadly volcano. What follows is a compelling tale, says Robyn Chowdhury
Earth’s chemical crisis • Synthetic pollutants flooding ecosystems are a forgotten environmental emergency – and we’re struggling even to grasp the scale of the problem, reports Graham Lawton
WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH
HOW MANY CHEMICALS ARE OUT THERE?
Post-human pooches • What would happen to dogs in a world without people, wonder bioethicist Jessica Pierce and behavioural ecologist Marc Bekoff
It’s a dog’s life
Where does gold come from? • Many elements are made in stars like our sun. But new evidence suggests gold’s origins could be far more ancient. Sapphire Lally investigates
Let’s count...