New Scientist

This week's cartoon from Twisteddoodles

Tom Gauld's weekly cartoon

A spinal cord transplant happened in people for the first time during a surgery in Russia, but the evidence underpinning it is lacking

The New Scientist Book Club has been reading the Station Eleven author's latest speculative novel. While they found lots of things to praise, there were criticisms of the pace of this near-future-set story, says Alison Flood

The King's Observatory in London, built on the orders of King George III so he could watch the 1769 transit of Venus, is up for sale. Feedback is interested – but not sure if our bank balance will stretch to the asking price

If aliens with technology similar to ours lived on a planet orbiting Proxima centauri (the next-nearest star), would we be able to see unmistakable signs of a technological civilisation? Of life? And what is the advantage of eggs over live births?

This question was posed as part of New Scientist’s Last Word series, in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions. Here’s what our readers had to say

This question was posed as part of New Scientist’s Last Word series, in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions. Here’s what our readers had to say

The BBC has another game-changing hit in Blue Planet III, says Michael Le Page, with David Attenborough narrating and a smart dolphin

Ecologist Steven Allison argues for the importance of microbes in fighting climate change in a convincing and hopeful book, The Age of Microbes, says Christa Lesté-Lasserre