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

Not just skin deep • An industry founded on beauty ideals could be due a makeover

New Scientist

3D-printed rocket blasts off

Rewilding could be a big climate fix • Protecting or expanding wildlife populations can make a large contribution to carbon removal

Astronauts on the moon could mine water from glass

CERN measurement casts doubt on shock W boson result

Ancient humans got a taste for roasted snails very early on

Analysis Artificial intelligence • Are chatbots really able to think like people? The lofty goal of artificial general intelligence is within reach, according to researchers at Microsoft, but others are sceptical, finds Matthew Sparkes

World population could soon peak • Working to reduce inequality could see the human population fall to 6 billion by 2100

Dormice glow brilliantly under ultraviolet light

Europe averted a crisis over winter, but what happens next time round?

Analysis Artificial intelligence • The problem with an unusually fashionable pope We are in a new age of misinformation as a result of the growth of image-generating tools, says Chris Stokel-Walker

JWST telescope finds TRAPPIST-1b may have no atmosphere

Why is cancer rising in younger people? • The number of people under 50 with cancer is increasing in many countries and for many different tumour types. The hunt is on to find out why, reports Clare Wilson

Fissures on icy ocean moons may be too rare to provide conditions for life

Wrinkly graphene could transform hydrogen fuel cells

Safe drinking water remains out of reach for billions

Asteroid samples contain a building block of RNA

Shape discovered that can tile a wall and never make a pattern that repeats

Botox injections alter brain activity linked to emotions

Cheesecake made by a 3D printer

Key to sleep may be a high-protein diet

Parasite from cat faeces killed four sea otters

Really brief

Let them eat cake • We are trapped in a junk food cycle that is making us sick. The food system is broken, say Henry Dimbleby and Jemima Lewis

Field notes from space-time • Why space scientists need science fiction Carl Sagan’s novel Contact, in which Ellie Arroway searches for alien intelligence, has been an inspiration and a guide, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Wild beauty

Your letters

Building your digital twin • It would be the ultimate in personalised medicine: a virtual “you” with which doctors could predict your health. But is it possible, asks Claire Ainsworth

Ghosts in the brain? • Many people feel an uncanny “presence” when no one is there. Jason Arunn Murugesu probes a lively book that asks why

Don’t miss

Maths by the book • An engaging read about how central mathematics is to literature by authors from George Eliot to Georges Perec is a homage to both subjects, finds Tom Tierney

Timing a bit off in dino thriller

The truth about wrinkles • Far from being a purely cosmetic concern, wrinkles may be a driver of ageing in the body and brain, finds Graham Lawton

Head in the clouds • In a lifetime of tree climbing, Nalini Nadkarni has led the way in discovering the secrets of cloud forest biology. Interview by Matthew Ponsford

Black holes from a previous universe • Space...