Always on your mind: gut microbes have close links with the brain It is the year 2036. A patient struggling with depression and anxiety is […]
'Once we were like you': Striking reconstructions reveal the faces of 16 people from Roman-era Hungary
The face of a young woman crowned with a laurel wreath, buried in elaborate clothing and unusual cork sandals, has appeared nearly 1,700 years after […]
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft awakens from yearlong hibernation to do unprecedented science beyond Pluto
There’s nothing more disorienting than falling asleep in transit only to wake up and find you’ve somehow drifted billions of miles beyond the orbit of […]
U.S. pledges $5 billion to boost AI in government-backed scientific research
The White House’s senior science adviser faced questions over research funding cuts from lawmakers on Wednesday
Long-lost coral reefs rediscovered off the coast of Africa
This marine ecosystem in the Gulf of Guinea shows the resilience of coral reefs against climate change
What OpenAI’s rogue agent really did in the Hugging Face hack
This agent pursued its objective far beyond what researchers intended, revealing how difficult to contain powerful AI systems can be
Mice on 'godforsaken' frozen volcanoes eat toxic plants to survive conditions 'not remotely compatible with long-term human survival'
Scientists have discovered how mice survive at extreme altitudes on the tips of icy dormant volcanoes in the Andes. The area where the mice call […]
Sacrificed Inca children died very differently than we thought, study finds
Inca boys and girls chosen for human sacrifice trekked through Inca communities for thousands of miles on sacred pilgrimages before their ritual deaths, often near […]
Why open-source software can be both good and bad
ronstik/Alamy A problem shared is a problem halved, or so the saying goes. That is the philosophy of the open-source software movement, which sees volunteers […]
This twisty sci-fi thriller is a fantastic debut from Isabel J. Kim
Sublimation, in which a person can split into two when crossing an international border, is tip-top stuff. Don’t miss it, says science-fiction columnist Emily H. […]
Sunshine can help with some serious health problems, argues a new book
While Europe’s heatwave makes us run for shade, the intriguing In Defense of Sunlight reveals sunlight’s health-giving effects – in moderation, says David Robson
Why do fictional geologists keep getting killed off in movies?
Josie Ford Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Stony ground When you start watching a film, […]
This week’s new questions
What is the optimal way to ice a cocktail: fewer big cubes or lots of small ones? And what is the smallest creature that needs […]
Are flies following a strategy when they keep hitting a window? Part 2
Readers take issue with a former answer to this question, arguing for the different behaviour of wasps and flies – and for a more defined […]
How do fish recognise others of their own species? Part 2
Another expert reader explores this thorny topic, including reference to the behaviour of their own archerfish
NASA astronaut shares image of impossible-looking 'hopper' crystal growing on the space station. What is happening?
Astronauts have grown a common crystal in space — but this extraterrestrial version is exhibiting a very uncommon behavior. Under a microscope, the crystal looks […]
A huge cosmic object could force astronomers to rethink what a moon is
This almost Jupiter-sized object is orbiting a brown dwarf, which, in turn, is circling around a small star
Ancient ferns turned Triassic Europe into a wildfire inferno
Ancient Fern Savannahs and the End-Triassic Firestorms Ancient Fern Savannahs and the End-Triassic Firestorms New fossil discoveries reveal that during the end-Triassic mass extinction, vast […]