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A modelling study suggests marine cloud brightening could shade the eastern Pacific and reduce a global temperature spike from El Niño, but there could be unexpected consequences

A drug that softens the ovaries helped mice and rats conceive more easily at an older age, and produce more pups

Seeking out the simplest, most elegant explanations has served scientists well for centuries, but cognitive scientist Marina Dubova’s experiments are revealing better ways to uncover reality

Pioneer of quantum mechanics Erwin Schrödinger's look at living organisms is one of the most influential popular-science books of the 20th century. So how does it hold up today, asks Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Lambs have been born using an experimental form of IVF that coaxes immature eggs to become mature ones. This could boost the number of eggs available for fertilisation and improve IVF success rates

A drug that raises levels of histamine – the chemical that causes allergy symptoms – in the brain boosts our memory by around 10 per cent

Today, most rechargeable batteries are made from lithium ions, but sodium-ion alternatives could make battery tech much cheaper and offer other advantages

A short spell in a heat chamber at the University of Brighton showed Alec Luhn that his body is not adapted to high temperatures – but regular exposure can train the body to respond more effectively

Few people have invented an algorithm with the potential to spark a worldwide crisis, so why is quantum computing pioneer Peter Shor so unconcerned? Karmela Padavic-Callaghan spoke to him to find out

Explaining the passage of time has been a gnarly problem in physics basically forever, but physicist and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram has a radical proposal for where it comes from. He discussed his ideas on time – and what they mean for free will – with reporter Leah Crane

Some 40 years ago, physicists noticed certain metals were conducting electricity in a bizarre way no one could explain. New answers to how and why this happens are forcing us to question how electricity flows

As Chris Packham gears up for his new TV show, Evolution, he tells Penny Sarchet why understanding the latest evolutionary science is so important if we are to truly appreciate the natural world - and how he would happily die at the hands of a Tyrannosaurus rex

Longer-lasting hot spells and high temperatures at night are making it harder to cope, leading to thousands more deaths from extreme heat

The fate of the Atlantic Ocean current that keeps Europe’s climate warm depends on our carbon emissions and the rate of ice melt from Greenland, but there is a chance that a shutdown is already inevitable

We used to think post-menopausal ovaries sat inert in the body, but evidence from mice suggests they may instead turn into an organ with a role in inflammation

A series of experiments shows that bees respond differently to tastes depending on their internal states, hinting that they have something akin to our emotions

A cave on the Turkish Mediterranean coast was inhabited first by Neanderthals and then Homo sapiens, but the continuity of tools and personal objects suggests there was some sharing of culture between the two species

In our efforts to keep our brains healthy, how do we know what is working? Helen Thomson explores a new generation of tests that can reveal whether our efforts are paying off

How much sunscreen should you be using, when should you apply it, and are there any downsides to doing so? Skin cancer expert Rachel Neale is here to answer all of these questions and more

A TED talk and then a film, William Kamkwamba’s story of how he worked to provide his rural Malawian village with electricity has now been turned into a musical – and it mostly works, says Bethan Ackerley

Our brains are large compared with other animals, so it is tempting to assume there was an evolutionary advantage to them – but that may not be true at all

Some marathon runners and other athletes swear by beetroot juice shots, but is there evidence they really do anything for our bodies? Columnist Alice Klein investigates

AI companies are hiring philosophy graduates to help them understand the nature of consciousness, whether it can be replicated and how their systems can be made better and more reliable

An experiment that involved feeding a dead goat to a Komodo dragon as well as an analysis of thousands of ancient bones suggests that Homo floresiensis was neither a skilled hunter of big game nor a master of fire

Earth was once covered by a global magma ocean, which later cooled and crystallised – now traces of this primordial event have been found in magma from a young volcano in the Indian Ocean

NASA’s Swift space telescope is reaching the end of its two-decade run in orbit – unless a satellite launched on 3 July can give it a lifesaving boost

Female orangutans are generally solitary, but they travel more and eat less in an apparent effort to ensure their offspring have someone to play with

Aya Koda's Tree is an account of the late writer's visits to Japan's most famous, and ancient, trees. Featured in Wim Wenders's film Perfect Days, it is original and thought-provoking, says Rowan Hooper

The vibrant colours and delicate details of New Zealand's fungi and slime moulds are documented in these images, taken from Jay Lichter's new book The Secret Life of Fungi

Natalya Saprunova's photo series exploring coastal erosion and permafrost thaw across Inuvialuit territories in Canada has won the New Scientist Editors Award at the Earth Photo 2026 competition

It will be some months before the true toll of Europe's worst-ever heatwave is confirmed, but researchers can estimate a death count based on how many people died in Europe during previous hot periods

The question of how gravity interacts with the quantum world has long perplexed physicists, but a non-quantum theory of space-time could present an answer

What makes something alive? We simply don't know, but synthetic biologists are a step closer to providing an answer thanks to SpudCell, the most sophisticated attempt at creating an artificial life form yet

A proposed technique to counter global warming by spraying sun-reflecting particles near the poles would cause commercial flights to pass through clouds of sulphuric acid, posing a danger to passengers and crew

From friendship in a world of chatbots to what it means to be alive, this month’s new popular science books are asking some big questions. Liz Else rounds up the ones she’s most looking forward to

A prototype cell partly capable of replicating itself has been created using 36 existing bacterial genes, but it's not really a living organism – yet

Feedback is informed of an exciting new development in underwear design from a brand that says it infuses its products with beneficial bacteria to nourish the skin microbiome

A philosopher has put forward an argument for rethinking how particles are defined within the standard model of particle physics

A form of fibre that boosts the release of the hunger-reducing hormone GLP-1 has been approved as safe by a European regulator, and could be added to foods within a year

Sci-fi fans can enjoy a new Red Dwarf novel – the first for 30 years – this month, as well as sci-fi horror from Paul Tremblay and a journey to Planet Happy with Riley August

Scientists worry that a surge of meltwater from Greenland could irreversibly collapse the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, but new modelling suggests the weakening of the current could be reversed if CO2 levels come back down

The most comprehensive database ever compiled of how fast arachnids can run has shown how leg anatomy and evolutionary history influence spiders’ running speed

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is beginning its extraordinary survey of the southern sky, which will use the largest camera ever built to map the solar system, the galaxy and beyond

Astronomers have recently started looking for black holes bigger than galaxies. Brian Lacki explains how these “stupendously large black holes” might be used by alien civilisations, and what makes them such an intriguing possibility

Brain recordings from newborns reveal the first neural evidence that humans are born with an innate sense of numbers

When standard leukaemia treatments failed, 13-year-old Alyssa Tapley was told she had only weeks left – but then she was offered an experimental procedure

The US government is trying to speed up the development of quantum computers so it can have one sooner

For decades, we’ve thought that childbirth is uniquely challenging for humans, but it turns out that many other primates find the birth process just as difficult

Sleep is essential, yet humans have evolved to need so little of it. When evolutionary anthropologist David Samson delved into our ancient past to find the reasons why, he discovered surprising ways to get a better night’s rest

Women who were vaccinated against covid-19 in the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle reported having a breakthrough infection sooner than those vaccinated during their follicular phase

Tiny 3D-printed diving suits allow cockroaches to walk underwater for up to 3 hours with no ill effects, which could enable a cyborg insect swarm to explore disaster zones and perhaps even Mars

From the age of legal adulthood to the concept of "profound autism", policy-makers are turning to neuroscience to help shape laws and policies, but the science simply isn't ready

DNA from ancient humans has been found on a prehistoric cave painting and on cave walls, demonstrating the potential to one day identify individual artists and resolve the debate over Neanderthals' artistic abilities

This August a total solar eclipse is set to be visible across parts of Europe, while a partial eclipse will sweep across about a quarter of the planet – here’s how to catch it

The loss of Antarctica’s doomsday glacier would transform our planet. Now scientists are revealing the secrets of this remotest of places, and asking the question: is its demise inevitable?

The brain undergoes a full renovation during menopause. Although these changes are profound, we’re learning that the long-term impact needn’t be all bad

Raising children appears to keep the brain young, potentially acting as a buffer against cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s

When does your brain reach adulthood? We're now understanding the many ways the organ continues to mature decades after society first deems you an adult

Scrolls from the Roman library of Herculaneum that were carbonised by a volcanic eruption have been read in their entirety for the first time, thanks to scans and AI software

A rare variant of a gene called TP53 means Tracy Hutchinson has an extreme risk of developing cancer anywhere in her body, causing endless anxiety and requiring regular whole-body MRIs and other screening

The current temperatures in western and central Europe would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, and unprecedented humidity levels make this heatwave especially dangerous

The New Scientist Book Club’s read for July is Claire North’s space opera Slow Gods. In this extract from its second chapter, we learn about the upbringing of its protagonist on the planet Tu-mdo

Claire North, whose space opera Slow Gods is the July read for the New Scientist Book Club, discusses how a population might deal with knowledge that their planet will be destroyed in 100 years

The world of quantum video games is vast – there are hundreds that are either inspired by quantum mechanics or use quantum computers in their development. Columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan explores how these could change our understanding of quantum physics, or even help us make better devices

These images from photographer Kristin Bethge document Brazil's milk bank system, which provides some of the world's cheapest and safest donated milk to hundreds of thousands of babies

Sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson rounds up her favourite reads of the year to date – and highlights one particular book as her top pick

Growing numbers of homeowners are installing batteries that store electricity when it is cheap, which helps balance the grid and cuts emissions, and cheaper plug-in batteries will soon let more people do the same

We have identified the gene that, when activated, initiates the developmental programme that results in cells forming a human body

The extreme heat currently being felt in Europe isn’t the new normal – much worse is to come, and we are doing far too little to adapt, says Michael Le Page

IBM's latest chip packs in twice as many transistors as the current state-of-the-art chip by adding a second layer of silicon circuitry

Phages, viruses that infect bacteria, could be genetically manipulated to destroy cancerous cells using the immunity we have acquired from vaccines

Feedback isn't sure what to make of a ground-breaking piece of research into the understudied topic of "subjective individual variability in onion tearing and its relationship to chemosensory sensitivity"

The first six months of the year have brought us popular science reads on everything from consciousness to cosmology. Liz Else rounds up her favourites

An instrument on the Perseverance rover has identified large, complex carbon compounds alongside unusual patterns on the surface of rocks that resemble traces of microbial activity

We have developed genetic technologies that could wipe out entire species of pests that are harmful to us. Columnist Michael Le Page says the flesh-eating screwworm is the most likely first target

An analysis of tooth proteins suggests all 23 Homo naledi individuals found in the Rising Star cave in South Africa were female, which strengthens the case that they were placed there deliberately

Jessica Atkin knows more than anyone else about what it would take to supply food for a moon base. She reveals how to build a lunar farm and what astronauts can expect to dine on

Genetic analysis of Neanderthals in north-western Europe reveals that this population was surprisingly genetically diverse, hinting that inbreeding didn’t lead to the species' demise

Oestrogen levels fluctuate throughout a woman's menstrual cycle, which may impact how efficiently a drug that targets the brain can reach its destination

The area surrounding our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole contains three strangely different populations of stars – but one hidden black hole could explain all of them

Fans can make you hotter rather than cooler, but the temperature at which you should turn them off depends on several factors, including your age and the humidity level

A study claims that the North Pole Dome crater in Western Australia was caused by an asteroid strike 3 billion years ago, but other researchers dispute the proposed age

A cave in Belize contains teeth from dozens of important Maya people buried elsewhere, which may attest to a ritual intended to ensure their passage to the underworld

Not much is known about Starfall, SpaceX's new delivery system, but an assessment published in May revealed its intended purpose

Around a third of people are able to almost fully rebuild their brains after a stroke and uncovering why is pointing the way to better treatments for everyone

A gene therapy that instructs cells to produce more of an anti-ageing protein called klotho is about to be offered by a US company at overseas clinics to bypass FDA rules

A woman with severe Alzheimer's disease who hadn't spoken more than monosyllables in years began initiating conversation after a single dose of psilocybin

A spider living in the rainforests of Queensland, Australia, builds a snare trap reminiscent of a Roman-era ballista weapon that it uses to catapult green tree ants into a web 30 centimetres above

Researchers say a surgery that let pigs with completely severed spinal cords walk again may lead to human trials, and then perhaps even full head or brain transplants. Columnist Helen Thomson is intrigued but sceptical of whether the technique can be successful in humans

Several start-ups have tried to grow seaweed to remove atmospheric CO2, but this could affect the levels of nutrients in the ocean and hamper other CO2-sucking processes

The next generation of AI models are meant to be trained by people paid to have conversations with them, but several of these workers have admitted to New Scientist that they simply get chatbots to do it instead. This "AI inbreeding" may reduce the power and usefulness of future models, warn experts

Something is absorbing light on the surfaces of Pluto and Saturn’s moon Titan, and figuring out what it is could be crucial to understanding Titan’s complex chemistry

Evidence is mounting that there are distinct subtypes of autism, and now, scientists have found that the condition can vary according to the strength of people's brain connections

Defying the laws of thermodynamics, experiments are beginning to show that a quantum state that is frozen forever might not be impossible. If we can tame it, it could unlock whole new types of matter

With Steven Spielberg’s new extraterrestrial film Disclosure Day just out, it’s the ideal time to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind – perhaps the perfect UFO film, says film columnist Bethan Ackerley

Older mice that received a faecal microbiome transplant from younger animals went on to have improved brain plasticity, which suggests their brains could overcome a neurological condition that is typically successfully treated only in childhood

Efficiency ratings on portable air conditioners don’t give consumers the full picture, and one type of aircon unit is so inefficient that it should be banned, says Michael Le Page

The surprising discovery of mysterious blobs inside our cells is revolutionising our understanding of how life works, and how it got started

Carbon monoxide in Uranus's deep atmosphere indicates that the planet contains more ice than rock, suggesting it formed more like Neptune than we thought

The disruption of your gut microbiome is a major consequence, and possible cause, of ageing. Columnist Graham Lawton looks into recent trials examining whether it can be replenished through diet and prebiotics, probiotics or postbiotics