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

Net-zero action • The biggest buzzword in climate action is being used as a cop-out

New Scientist

Fearsome stink bug has tusks

Analysis Climate • Why 2023 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record Global weather phenomena are conspiring to raise temperatures further this year, adding to human-driven climate change, finds Madeleine Cuff

AIs will become useless if they keep learning from other AIs

Ancient reptiles’ long necks increased risk of decapitation

Cryptocurrencies go quantum • Using quantum computers to mine cryptocurrencies like bitcoin could slash their huge electricity use, finds Alex Wilkins

Humans pumping groundwater has shifted Earth’s axis

Chimpanzees can prepare for alternative futures

Synthetic embryo breakthrough • Human embryo-like structures have been made from stem cells and reached a landmark stage. Clare Wilson explains why it matters

A star eating a giant planet has created a hellish inferno

Record-breaking superconductivity • Scandium can turn into a superconductor at a higher temperature than any other element

Fuel cell recycles plastic waste and carbon dioxide

Vaginal fluid swab benefits babies • Transferring a mother’s bacteria to a newborn can change its microbiome and health

Brain activity ‘bar codes’ may link to specific memories

Fighting off a robotic rival boosts male flies’ mating success

North American wildfires may be creating clouds over Europe

Quantum computer wins face-off • IBM’s Eagle quantum computer has bested a supercomputer at a complex calculation

Ancient plant’s leaves didn’t follow the golden ratio

‘Smart drugs’ make people worse at problem-solving test

Tiny robot could stop bleeding from inside the body using heat

Analysis Fossil fuels • Shell can’t say it backs net zero while betting on oil and gas Like its rival BP, Shell claims it is committed to reaching net zero by 2050, but this doesn’t add up, finds Madeleine Cuff

Fastest free-moving star in galaxy caught going 2285 km/s

Extinct lizard was a supersized skink

Muons help below-ground navigation

Cave reveals early evidence of modern humans in Asia

Really brief

Time to open up • Medical studies of diverse populations benefit humanity as a whole, say Michal Elovitz, Stephen Quake and Hannah Valantine

Field notes from space-time • A massive problem Traditional explanations of why objects have mass can feel unsatisfactory. Particle physics helps, but it doesn’t answer everything, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Your letters

Loss and damage

The books we’ll be packing…

Let science refresh your mind • Travelling is a great time for a rethink, whether about the human mind or the evolution of cats – or even the importance of red algae for Earth, says Simon Ings

Find your fictional future • Great sci-fi offers many ways to escape our troubled world and teaches us how to grapple with it, says Sally Adee

Brilliant reads for young minds • Baby frogs, puberty, enhanced humans, climate change – exciting books on these subjects will engage kids of all ages, says Imogen Russell Williams

“We’re reframing life by thinking about it as a lineage” • Astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker is developing a deeper...