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
A lucky break • Who we become may depend more on chance than on parenting – so take a load off
New Scientist
Testing Earth’s defences • The first attempt to divert an asteroid could one day help prevent an impact on our home planet, reports Alex Wilkins
Pandemic linked to early puberty • The global coronavirus outbreak may be more than doubling the number of girls going through premature sexual development, finds Elizabeth Hlavinka
Closest black hole to Earth could be visible in the skies of nearby planets
Urban trees are threatened by climate change
Ethereum’s eco update sees miners migrate to other coins
Brain scans reveal areas that respond to pictures of food
JWST snaps its first Mars pics • As well as staring deep into the cosmos, James Webb can look closer to home
Omicron variant may protect against flu
AI can test 100 years of climate policy in seconds
Plant-based hot foam kills weeds as fast as chemicals do
Radical treatment for lupus • A cell-based therapy developed for cancer has been adapted to fight the autoimmune disease
Mars rover keeps finding organic matter
Closing in on true cause of ageing • DNA clocks, which allow us to accurately work out how old almost any mammal is, are challenging old ideas of what really leads to ageing, discovers Michael Le Page
Einstein’s gravity principle holds up after the most precise test yet
Drug derived from tree sap could treat chronic wounds
Why are AIs creating scary images? • The continued production of the same few nightmarish characters is provoking urban myths, but there is a rational explanation, finds Matthew Sparkes
Bangalore floods highlight how cities must adapt to climate change
Weird brown dwarf seen blasting off its outer layers
Rings of Saturn may be remains of moon
Keeping of livestock predates farming
Walking with a crying baby is best way to get it to sleep
Really brief
Apes, not angels • If we want to change our consumerist society, we need greener status signals that appeal to our animal instincts, says Solitaire Townsend
Wild Wild Life • Define ‘new’ Even at this time of rapid extinction, there are many species to be discovered, but we need to take care over what we mean when referring to “new species”, says Penny Sarchet
Looking up
Your letters
Attenborough, still the best • David Attenborough’s wonderful Frozen Planet II reminds us of what we risk losing – and outclasses two new nature series in the process, says Josh Bell
A Grimm future • An exquisite new sci-fi movie has a dark, fairy-tale edge, finds Davide Abbatescianni
Don’t miss
The sci-fi column • Fantasy rules Bliss Montage and Expect Me Tomorrow are blends of sci-fi and grown-up fantasy that give a shot in the arm to help us face seemingly hopeless causes with a fresh perspective. How else will we find energy to act, asks Sally Adee
Lucky you • Who you are is down to genes and environment, but also a third, overlooked, factor: chance. That changes everything, finds Clare Wilson
Roots of randomness
“Space and time emerge from something deeper” • If black holes consume everything in their vicinity and then slowly die, what happens to the stuff that falls in? As particle...