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Scientists have identified five sleep profiles, each of which is linked to distinct mental health symptoms and brain activity patterns

According to the equations that govern black holes, the larger one of these cosmic behemoths is the lower its average density – given that the universe contains a lot of relatively empty space, could the whole cosmos be a black hole?

For decades, forest, grasslands and other land ecosystems have collectively absorbed up to a third of the carbon dioxide we emit each year - but this climate buffer may be collapsing far sooner than anyone expected

Bamboo is a highly renewable resource, and its cellulose fibres can be turned into a hard, mouldable plastic for use in cars and appliances

The 2025 Nobel prize in physics has gone to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis, whose work has led to the development of today's quantum computers

An analysis of the afterglow of the big bang sheds light on how black holes distribute mass in the universe, and why some matter previously seemed to have been missing

Some habitable worlds orbiting dead stars could be kept alive for aeons thanks to a quirk of Einstein’s theory of gravity

Can you escape your genetic inheritance, and do lifestyle changes actually make a difference? Daniel Cossins set out to understand what the evidence on Alzheimer’s really means for him

The 2025 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has gone to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries around how we keep our immune system under control

Endurance, the wooden ship that Ernest Shackleton took to Antarctica in 1915, wasn't built to withstand frozen seas – and the famous explorer knew it

Some conservation groups are calling for an effective ban on genetic modification, but others say these technologies are crucial for preserving biodiversity

If you are a fan of the moon, then the next four months will give you something special to watch out for, says Abigail Beall

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

Black holes are so strange that physicists have long wondered if they are quite what they seem. Now we are set to find out if they are instead gravastars, fuzzballs or something else entirely

Fermented foods make up a third of what we eat and were mostly discovered by accident centuries ago. Now a fermentation revolution is promising extraordinary new flavours and novel ways to boost gut health

We thought happiness peaked at the beginning and end of life, but a study from Germany suggests a more pessimistic outlook for our later years

Astronomers have long thought the universe should look generally the same in every direction, but an anomaly in the radiation from the big bang persists even after a new analysis from radio telescopes

A star found in the Large Magellanic Cloud is remarkably unpolluted by heavier elements, suggesting it is descended from the universe’s earliest stars

Several species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see an invader that might lay an egg in their nest – this shared call hints at the origin of language

It was previously thought that children younger than 7 couldn't find efficient solutions to complex problems, but new research suggests that much earlier, children can happen upon known sorting algorithms used by computer scientists

Sandra Knapp, chair of the judging panel for the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, explains why neurologist Masud Husain’s collection of case studies is such an enlightening, compassionate book

In this passage from Our Brains, Our Selves, winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, neuroscientist Masud Husain recounts how novelist Marcel Proust became convinced, wrongly, that he'd had a stroke

The New Scientist Book Club has just finished reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Most of our members enjoyed it, even if the sheer volume of ideas in the book made it a challenging read

Set at a strange academy in small-town Vermont, Netflix’s Wayward aims to pacify unruly teens by master manipulation. Bethan Ackerley finds a creepy, troubled world

Autism may exist in multiple forms, with the condition's genetics and signs differing according to the age at diagnosis

In his book The Genius Bat, ecologist Yossi Yovel explains why these mammals are a vital part of ecosystems, pollinating plants and keeping insect populations in check

Premenstrual syndrome and its symptoms is neglected by science, so Sarah Hill's new book is welcome. But it needs more on genetics, not just lifestyle changes, says Alexandra Thompson

AI tools are being used to design proteins and even viruses, leading to fears these could eventually be used to evade bioweapon controls

Scientists are beginning to understand the sudden loss of sea ice in Antarctica – and there is growing evidence that it represents a permanent shift with potentially catastrophic consequences

Facilities that make particles called B mesons may seem obscure, but they could help explain why there is more matter than antimatter and what dark matter is, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

A free-floating planet has been seen devouring astonishing amounts of matter, hinting that stars and planets are more alike than we thought

Jane Goodall, who chronicled the social lives of chimps, has died, but she leaves a lasting legacy on how we view the natural world

Learning to play an instrument has long been linked to improved reading skills among children, and we may finally understand why

Feedback is amazed to find that the audible vocalisations of the house mouse is all but unstudied in favour of the ultrasonic sounds humans can’t hear. SQUEAK!

Work on medical uses of mind-altering substances was sidelined for decades by the political backlash against drugs, a misstep that has echoes in today’s intolerance of some fields of study

Acclaimed conservationist and chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall has died, leaving behind a legacy of empathy for primates and the natural world

In most mammals, females live longer than males, but in birds the trend goes the other way – a study of over 1000 species points to possible reasons for these differences

Singlet oxygen can be damaging in both cells and batteries but it has taken almost 60 years to work out exactly when it shows up in chemical reactions within both

Broadcaster and campaigner Chris Packham is on a mission to cut overconsumption, take on fossil fuel giants and create a fairer world

The DART mission achieved its goal of changing one asteroid’s orbit around another, but questions remain about why the orbit continued to alter over the following month

Madeline Lancaster created the first brain organoids, which have revolutionised our understanding of how the brain works - but also raised ethical questions

Science fiction legend Ursula K. Le Guin is honoured with a new collection out this month, and sci-fi fans can also look forward to fiction from astronaut Chris Hadfield and award-winning authors Ken Liu and Mary Robinette Kowal

Alexander Grothendieck was a titan in his field, making deep connections that fuelled a revolution in mathematics, before giving it all up and disappearing. Jacob Aron explores what his work meant

Scientists have discovered a new abdominal structure called the umbilical sheath, which anchors the remnant of the umbilical cord to deep abdominal tissues and helps determine the shape of your navel

An innovative use of skin cells could provide a route for same-sex couples or women with fertility problems to have children that both partners are genetically related to

Social media is awash with videos of cats and dogs getting startled or hurt for our entertainment. We should all be more alert to poor animal welfare, says Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Almost 200 engravings created around 12,000 years ago have been discovered in Saudi Arabia, including depictions of camels etched into cliff faces over 40 metres high

The black hole at the centre of a galaxy more than 50 million light years away is spewing out a jet of extremely hot plasma – though we have studied it for a century, we are only now seeing it in great detail

A clinical trial has found that VER-01, a drug derived from cannabis, eases chronic lower back pain without serious side effects or signs of addiction

Mysterious flashes of light seen in swamps and bogs could be caused by burning methane or other gases, ignited by sparks that fly between bubbles in water

Many mammals physically pivot their ears to hone in on a particular sound, and now it seems that a similar action takes place in our brain

The world’s best clocks may be sensitive to an odd mix of quantum and relativistic effects that would stretch time and test the boundaries of physics

A commonly used class of antibiotics seems to kill bacteria like E. coli by breaking down their tough armour

Thinking you don’t fit in is agonising, whether you are starting at university or changing jobs. Our advice columnist, David Robson, shares some tips to change how you feel

Inhalers that combine relieving breathlessness with preventing it seem to be the most effective option for reducing asthma attacks in young children

Although narcissistic personality disorder is rarer than you might think, psychological research suggests it can come in two different types, one of which may be underdiagnosed

The revelation that endometriosis is linked to autoimmune disorders is opening up a whole new way to treat this painful and poorly understood condition

Reading books and listening to audiobooks tap into different elements of cognition, each with their own benefits. So which one should you choose, and when?

Some things we see in space appear to outpace light. Now we are learning to harness these bizarre optical illusions to understand the mysteries of neutron stars, gamma ray bursts and more

Severe lung inflammation has been linked to symptoms resembling post-traumatic stress disorder in mice, which could help us better treat and prevent the mental health condition

Novels need a gripping story to stay popular as the decades pass, but it seems that other less-obvious factors may also contribute to their lasting success

There are signs deep beneath the Pacific Ocean that an exploding star once sent cosmic rays blasting out towards Earth, and now we have an idea of which stars may be to blame

The rhythm of an infant's brain activity seems to put them in constant learning mode, whereas that of an adult may allow them to retrieve conceptual knowledge

Stratospheric temperatures in Antarctica are spiking, which could see strange weather unfold across the southern hemisphere in the coming months

When a key protein regulator dials down DNA repair mechanisms, our cells accumulate more mutations, which may cause us to age faster

Surreal images from a new book, Microcosms, show how confocal microscopy that uses laser scanning creates a super-sharp new journey around mind-altering plants and fungi

The photos tell an unusual rescue story – the release of the critically endangered Javan slow lorises into Ujung Kulon National Park on Java Island, Indonesia, last month.

Forget the tropes about how violence or maybe volcanic eruptions killed off our ancient cousins, The Last Neanderthal by Ludovic Slimak offers a very different take on how they died out

The shared ancestor of our species, the Neanderthals and the Denisovans may be far older than we thought – which could completely change our understanding of humanity's evolution

Mixing nanoparticles into some common plastics made them harder to break and possibly easier to process, pointing towards a way to make better materials or packaging

In this latest instalment of Future Chronicles, an imagined history of future inventions, Rowan Hooper explains how the creation of living solar panels transformed their impact on the world

The constant temperature and low humidity of a cave network in Saudi Arabia turned cheetahs, some of which died thousands of years ago, into mummies

Feedback is delighted to learn that researchers have discovered what Taylor Swift is accidentally doing to rescue the science of plants from mid-ness. Just take a look at her videos – sorry, botany teaching aids

Rising carbon dioxide levels have boosted the growth of trees in the Amazon rainforest over the past few decades, but it is unclear if this trend will continue

We are quick to place ourselves on the extremes of the social spectrum, but the truth is that personality is more malleable than you think, says Claudia Canavan

Huntington’s disease has been successfully treated for the first time using a gene therapy, which may be available in the US as soon as next year

From anger to hope, Kate Marvel and Tim Lenton explain how to tackle the tricky feelings aroused by climate change and harness them to take action

It is almost impossible to make cement without emissions, but carbon-capture-and-storage technology is finally being deployed to decarbonise the sector

Since the 1970s, astronomers have predicted that Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, should be sending out hot wind – they have just caught the first glimpse of it

Simply listening to the experiences of women with conditions such as endometriosis will help to end the long-standing inequalities they face when it comes to medical progress

An array of 6100 ultracold caesium atoms controlled by lasers is the largest collection of qubits ever assembled, and researchers hope they can soon turn it into the world's most advanced quantum computer

Scientists have studied the genetics and lifestyle factors that enabled María Branyas Morera, officially the oldest person in the world until she died last year, to reach 117 years old

Scientific evidence is lacking to support the US government’s decisions to caution against using a common painkiller in pregnancy and fast-track the approval of an experimental medication for autism

Comparing a map of the neurons in a nematode worm - the connectome - with a map of how signals travel across those neurons has revealed a surprising number of differences, suggesting that the structure of the brain alone doesn't explain how it works

A fossil from about 66 million years ago reveals a species of dinosaur that is new to science, with claws that would have ripped through its prey's flesh

Particles similar to axions, the leading candidate for dark matter that has long eluded detection, may have already been created in particle colliders – and remained hidden in the data

It has been suggested that lava tubes - underground tunnels carved out by molten rock - might be on Venus, and now we have direct evidence that this is the case

We used to think that deforestation in the Amazon would dry out the local climate, but the effects may be even more extreme and varied

Taking care of your body’s nutritional needs after training doesn't have to be a headache. Grace Wade sums up three key pillars she uses to refuel with confidence

It’s not just diet and exercise that governs how well you age. Your mindset, social connections and sense of purpose make a big difference, and it’s never too late to start working on them

Evidence shows that eating a longevity diet can dramatically lengthen your lifespan – and the sooner you start, the more of a difference it makes

Tech millionaire turned longevity pioneer Bryan Johnson devotes more than 6 hours a day to trialling different methods to turn back the clock. Can the rest of us learn anything from his radical approach?

Ian McEwan’s excellent What We Can Know is set in a UK largely swallowed up by rising seas. Emily H. Wilson explores the story of a scholar hunting a great lost poem – which may have something to with climate change

To be truly fit in older age, you need to work on specific aspects of your fitness – and research shows that it’s never too late to reap the benefits

Many of us know people who live into their 90s, but hardly anyone makes it to 100. Studies are now revealing that factors that really make a difference

Using the quantum states of particles of light as currency could make for unforgeable transactions, and a new experiment has added a way to save some of that quantum money for future use, too

The rate that our heart or liver ages may differ from that of our immune or hormonal systems, and now it seems that a single blood test could break that down

Ice core records of atmospheric hydrogen reveal a huge rise in concentration since the Industrial Revolution which has contributed to global warming – and could sway the debate over hydrogen as a fuel

Data from more than 18,000 people suggests that where excess fat is stored in the body influences its effects on brain structure, activity and health

For the first time, researchers have mathematically proven that a quantum computer needs less computational power to solve a particular task than an ordinary computer, in a way that can never be beaten