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Human wounds take almost three times as long to heal as those of other primates, which may come down to our lack of fur

The Trump administration has dismissed all of the researchers working on the next installment of the National Climate Assessment, a crucial report on how climate change is affecting the country

Users of the r/ChangeMyView subreddit have expressed outrage at the revelation that researchers at the University of Zurich were secretly using the site for an AI-powered experiment in persuasion

The enigmatic Y chromosome has a tendency to disappear from cells with age. Now, research is revealing the long-term impacts this can have on disease risk and life expectancy

One of the most famous findings in physics could be wrong – the double-slit experiment was long thought to confirm that light can be a wave, but its results can be fully explained using only quantum particles

Putting air filters in classrooms seems to boost student attendance, which may be due to them reducing levels of air pollution, pollen, pathogens or all three

An alternative periodic table of elements focusing on highly charged ions reveals new science that could support the quest for more accurate optical atomic clocks

The US government’s proposal for a vast health database to study autism could improve our understanding of the condition – but there is a risk it could do more harm than good

Early humans had almost no hope of surviving severe burns, so evolution may have prioritised the selection of genes that heal mild ones, which could be affecting modern medicine

Neutrinos have always been hard to explain – and now the detection of one so energetic it shouldn't exist may help illuminate the strangest corners of the cosmos

Laboratory measurements of crushed quartz suggest earthquakes generate huge volumes of hydrogen underground, a potential source of energy for life below the surface – and people above it

Men who were embodying female avatars via virtual reality felt anger and disgust when catcalled, which could change the behaviour of some perpetrators

The UK government's Redbox AI chatbot is being used by thousands of civil servants, but a lack of transparency about exactly how they are using it has experts concerned

A black hole bomb – an idea first proposed in 1969 – has now been realised in the lab as a toy model made from a rotating cylinder and magnetic coils. Studying the bomb could help us better understand real black holes.

There's a fierce debate raging in the horticulture world over whether adding ice cubes to your orchid is beneficial or damaging for this tropical plant. James Wong investigates

Laboratory experiments have coaxed simple molecules into states that naturally become more complex, hinting at the origins of evolution itself

Intertidal is Yuvan Aves's extraordinary, personal exploration of the rich wildlife offsetting the urbanity of Chennai, India. While its focus is a small strip of Indian coast, its issues are global

As humanity prepares to return to the moon, scientists also have ideas for huge lunar experiments that could revolutionise astrophysics

The US National Science Foundation cancelled funding for research on misinformation, disinformation and AI-generated deepfakes, even as misleading information runs rampant on social media

Text-generating AIs such as ChatGPT can be used to hide encrypted messages inside fake conversations, which could help people living under oppressive regimes communicate secretly

Rather than a volcanic winter, the Toba eruption 74,000 years ago resulted in several years of warm and dry weather, geochemical evidence from India suggests

Hackers may be able to garble the output of programs running on quantum computers, leaving other people with unknowingly incorrect results - but thankfully, there is a fix

Mounting evidence suggests there might be two separate types of the world’s fastest-growing neurological condition. Can this fresh understanding lead to much-needed new treatments?

An Austrian site occupied by humans from around 24,000 to 20,000 years ago documents a switch towards hunting reindeer for their fur, which may have helped people to endure harsh winters during the last glacial period

A collection of images from Imperial College London's photography competition uncovers the visual splendor of scientific discovery

A carnivorous caterpillar species camouflages itself with dead insects so it can live safely alongside spiders, stalking their webs and stealing their prey

Last week astronomers reported hints of biological activity on a distant planet, but a re-analysis of their data suggests the claimed molecules may not be there at all

A fossilised 113-million-year-old hell ant from Brazil adds to the evidence that the first ants evolved in the southern hemisphere before moving north – and beyond

People in the US are reading for pleasure less and less, despite it being linked to better sleep, improved mental health and even a longer life

Corporations and governments are playing fast and loose with environmental protections. Are there still ways we can make a difference as individuals, and live a climate-friendly life, asks Graham Lawton

Most supplements that claim to help your brain have never been thoroughly tested, but one has convinced even the most discerning scientists of its worth, finds columnist Helen Thomson

Feedback notes the flurry of new papers mentioning the mysterious "vegetative electron microscope", and ponders the emergence of this tortured phrase

Scientists have found scour marks on the seabed made by giant icebergs about 18,000 years ago, and they could offer clues to the fate of Antarctica’s ice

UK show Adolescence is sparking debate about the harm of social media. We need a series to do the same for the most pressing crisis of our times, says Bethan Ackerley

A man who lived in Roman-occupied Britain was bitten by a big cat, probably in a gladiator arena, an analysis of his remains has revealed

Hunting the origin of 40 per cent of the languages spoken today is a huge feat, but Laura Spinney's new book makes an excellent job of it

Exposing children with peanut allergy to proteins from the legume is an approved treatment to reduce the risk of allergic reactions, and now we have evidence it also works in adults

Climate researchers argue their science has advanced enough to directly link emissions from particular companies to damages from specific extreme weather events

Mice overcame a Lyme disease infection after being given an antibiotic that is often used for pneumonia, and its effect on their gut microbiomes was negligible

With ice and permafrost thawing fast, nations are racing to exploit the Arctic's newly accessible treasures. Yet there are plenty of reasons why this may not be a great idea – and why we should treat the region as a scientific wonder instead

The attempted creation of dire wolves could undermine conservation efforts by making people think extinct species can be revived, says the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Two commercial telecommunications facilities have been connected by a secure quantum network that used existing fibre optic cables at room temperature – a key step towards a feasible quantum internet

Greater mouse-tailed bats crawl backwards over cave walls, and it seems they use their long tails to help feel their way

Unusual signals called quasi periodic eruptions appear to come from black holes, but we don't know what creates them. Now astronomers have seen the most powerful one of these signals ever, and have a new idea about their cause

Machine learning helped show how harnessing the weird effects of Einstein’s special relativity could enable a new kind of quantum computer – and it could also lead to new insights into the quantum realm

The game, called StarStarter, rewards players for directing their attention away from negative stimuli and towards positive ones

A huge colony of Pavona coral near the coast of Saudi Arabia is thought to be the largest living example found in the Red Sea

An aerodynamic material that mimics shark skin helps planes fly with less drag – and it can be added to existing aircraft like a decal

Powering quantum computers with quantum batteries would reduce the energy needed for cooling and enable machines to pack in more qubits

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider found evidence of an unprecedentedly heavy and exotic form of antimatter in the aftermath of a collision between extremely fast lead ions

The US and other nations are eager to exploit the Arctic’s mineral wealth, but despite the thawing of ice and permafrost, accessing buried treasure in the region remains extremely challenging

A daily pill developed by the US pharmaceutical company Lilly may become a convenient alternative to injectable drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. In phase III trials it significantly lowered blood sugar and body weight in people with type 2 diabetes

Common medications for keeping blood pressure down, including ACE inhibitors, diuretics and calcium channel blockers, also lower the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment

The Tara Polar Station, a $23 million research vessel with a crew of 12, will drift across the Arctic ice to enable better monitoring of a rapidly changing environment

A nearly complete skeleton found in a cave in France belonged to a group known as the Palaeolithic dogs and its skeleton suggests it had a confusing relationship with humans

Extremely low sea ice levels in the Arctic and Antarctica signal a "new normal" that may accelerate global warming and disrupt ocean currents, on top of the consequences for people and wildlife that rely on the ice

There were hints that the world may be quantum long before the development of quantum mechanics in 1925 – could we have come up with this revolutionary theory hundreds or even thousands of years earlier?

From timetable scheduling to colouring in, and even casting a play, this nifty piece of mathematics is the answer, says Katie Steckles

Conventional accounts of the birth of quantum theory often overlook the pivotal role of one of its luminaries – and this has led to a persistent misunderstanding of what it really means, argues physicist Carlo Rovelli

As quantum computers mature, they will be transformational. But there are good reasons why we don’t yet know exactly which problems they will excel at – and that makes them all the more exciting

For 100 years, quantum theory has painted the subatomic world as strange beyond words. But bold new interpretations and experiments may help us to finally grasp its true meaning

A device has enabled people to see a new a shade of blue-green, which they say is more intense than any experienced before

Black Mirror's new season is a mixed bag, ranging from a sublimely plotted romp to one of the worst episodes to date. And it's still playing fast and loose with its sci-fi concepts, finds Bethan Ackerley

Explore the key moments in the history of quantum theory, from the early ideas of Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg to the discovery of phenomena like superposition and entanglement – and today’s quantum computers

Quantum effects like superposition and entanglement have long been seen in single particles, but physicists are on a quest to find out just how big an object can be before it loses its quantumness

We’ve now figured out how to culture chocolate in the lab. The breakthrough could help with spiralling cocoa costs, and may even lead to tastier treats with more nutritional value

Whenever there’s even a slight chance that an exoplanet shows signs of biological activity, people understandably get excited – but it’s never been aliens, and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, not this time or the next, says Chris Lintott

A quantum sensor using Earth's magnetic fields outperformed standard GPS backups in test flights. This technology could help commercial aircraft stay on course amid a rise in GPS jamming and spoofing attacks

The "skyglow" produced when light from cities bounces off clouds can help cyanobacteria and other aquatic microbes grow at night

Microbial communities feeding on geothermal methane seeps beneath the Antarctic ice sheet could resemble life-supporting environments on frozen worlds in our solar system and beyond

When Roman Egypt came under attack from the Kushites in what is now Sudan, the Roman forces responded by destroying a Kushite city – or so we thought

A network of Earth's best clocks will be synchronised with the most accurate one ever sent into space. But the device has a short shelf life: it will burn up in the atmosphere at the end of the decade as the ISS deorbits

Water filters made from untreated wood can remove more than 99 per cent of particles, taking out many harmful bacteria and microplastics

Photographer Mitch Epstein's years-long project highlights the majesty and vulnerability of old growth forests across the US

Why is saying no to other people so difficult – even when we really know we should? Sunita Sah's new book Defy has some novel ideas about the interpersonal forces holding us back

The report of possible biosignatures on the exoplanet K2-18b is exciting, but we are a long way from establishing beyond doubt that there is life on such a distant world

New global rules will see a carbon levy applied to emissions from shipping for the first time, but analysts say the package falls short of what is needed

General relativity is an astonishingly beautiful theory, and grappling with why it disagrees with quantum mechanics is a joy, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Two independent research teams have developed methods for hacking noisy quantum computers based on a row-hammer attack, a type of interference used to infiltrate traditional computers

Colossal Biosciences’s "de-extinction" news is just the latest in a slew of eyebrow-raising claims by privately funded researchers. Is the bar for belief lower when those making the claims have a lot of money, wonders Jonathan R. Goodman

Feedback was pleased to come across journalist Taylor Lorenz's coining of the word "viralflation", as videos with hundreds of millions of hits proliferate across the internet

The idea that the rise of tech means today's young people are less intelligent than previous generations is rife – but wrong, says neuroscientist Dean Burnett

On a faraway planet, the James Webb Space Telescope has picked up signs of molecules that, on Earth, are produced only by living organisms – but researchers say we must interpret the results cautiously

The 2000-year-old Antikythera mechanism may have been a kind of astronomical calculator, but researchers are unsure whether it would have worked without jamming

The idea of varying your lifestyle throughout your menstrual cycle to help relieve PMS or period pain seems intuitive, but the evidence reveals a nuanced picture, finds columnist Alexandra Thompson

Exposing the origins of the improbable – and at times scary – plans of tech billionaires makes Adam Becker's More Everything Forever a disturbing but important book

It is harder for our bodies to absorb key nutrients from plant-based foods, so some vegans may be short on essential amino acids for healthy muscles and bones despite eating plenty of protein

Beginning around 3000 years ago, Tel Shiqmona in modern-day Israel was a major centre for the production of Tyrian purple, a valuable commodity produced from marine snails

A weakening of Earth’s magnetic field known as the Laschamps event would have increased the threat of solar radiation, perhaps requiring ancient humans to invent protective measures

It is rare to find brown dwarf stars orbiting in pairs, and this pair has an even more unusual exoplanet companion

Space agencies from the US, Europe and Japan are all making plans to visit the asteroid Apophis when it makes an extremely close flyby in 2029 to learn how to deflect others like it

Quantum theory started with a bout of hay fever, and went on to transform our view of the universe – but its legacy isn't complete

Researchers have used a fungus and bacteria to create rigid, living structures similar to bone and coral, which could one day be used as a self-repairing building material

Scientists have used an artificial circulatory system to create lab-grown chicken, which may improve its texture

Water falls on Earth every day as rain, and now scientists seem to have found a way of using it to create renewable electricity

The colossal squid is the largest invertebrate on the planet, but it is also surprisingly elusive. An image of a 30-centimetre-long juvenile is our first glimpse of the animal in its natural habitat

A decades-long stretch of extremely low precipitation in the 1500s may have spurred cultural changes among the Rapa Nui people that reduced time spent building statues, but not all archaeologists agree

In an early-stage trial, a single dose of a CRISPR treatment lowered cholesterol levels, possibly permanently

The Lyrids and Eta Aquarids meteor showers can both be seen starting in late April, with viewing opportunities in both the northern and southern hemispheres

Tests show that when people hear recordings of real voices and AI-created ones, they mostly fail to spot the fakes – raising concerns about scams involving counterfeit voices