New Scientist
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Neanderthal skeleton found with horrific injuries
A 75,000-year-old skeleton offers a glimpse into the violent world in which Neanderthals lived, but also offers hints that they cared for one another
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4 of the most memorable biotech moments in modern scientific history
On the eve of New Scientist’s 70th anniversary, newsroom legend Andy Coghlan reveals four of the most dramatic and surprising moments from his storied career
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Russia and China are using AI to stage relentless cyberattacks against the UK
AI is increasing the speed of attacks against infrastructure in the UK but also being used to help defend against it
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Whalefall review: Worth watching for the bits inside a sperm whale
Based on Daniel Kraus’s novel, this film about a diver swallowed by a sperm whale is terrifically gruesome – and far too sentimental, says Bethan Ackerley
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We can rescue the AMOC after its collapse – but it won’t be easy
An AMOC weakened by climate change can be revived by cooling global temperatures, but we don't have the technology to remove huge quantities of CO2 and drive that cooling
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Self-replicating AIs are a great digital horror story – here’s the reality
Anthropic announced that an AI could self-replicate inside smart devices within months, stoking fear around the internet. Columnist Jacob Aron explains the technical limitations that make this spook story less than likely
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Ancient shipwreck discovered off Turkey claimed to be world's oldest
A ship that sank in the Early Bronze Age was probably carrying jars of olive oil and may have been on its way to the ancient city of Troy when it sank
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Hidden sounds of nature brought to life in fascinating new book
Wilderness Songs review: Hidden sounds of nature brought to life in fascinating new book
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Tom Gauld: DNA and fossil evidence proved they were close relatives
Tom Gauld's weekly cartoon
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Last Word: This week’s new questions
Why do humans enjoy black-and-white photos or videos, but have less tolerance for images that have only two other colours? If two chromosomes are better than one, why not three?
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Co-Existence by Ethan Mollick review: How to build a real relationship with AI and keep your cognitive edge
Co-Existence by Ethan Mollick is an excellent practical guide to effectively collaborating with AI without relinquishing our most valuable human cognitive capabilities, says Daniel Cossins
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This El Niño will bring predictable disasters, so why aren't we ready?
We know that this monster El Niño will bring floods, droughts, cyclones and wildfires, but some governments aren’t putting in the necessary resources to prepare for disaster
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Twisteddoodles on life before the study began...
This week's cartoon from Twisteddoodles
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Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger: Time Traveler’s Wife sequel is far more complex than its predecessor
Audrey Niffenegger’s Life Out of Order, a follow-up to her bestselling novel The Time Traveler’s Wife, is an intricate and thoughtful vision of a frightening future, says Alison Flood
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Let's celebrate Star Trek by launching a Le Creuset pan into the sky!
Feedback learns of an unexpected new partnership for Star Trek, and of an even more unexpected promotional stunt
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Some of our favourite New Scientist Live moments – in photographs
With talks by experts from Alice Roberts to Tim Spector and a host of scientific fun to be had, this year's New Scientist Live took place from 10 to 12 October. Check out the action in this selection of shots from the show floor
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When There Are Wolves Again review: This prize-winning sci-fi novel about rewilding made me cry
When There Are Wolves Again by E. J. Swift somehow delivers both a determined call for more wildernesses globally – and a great novel. Sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson is thrilled she gave it another chance
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How El Niño could spark a worldwide food crisis
Droughts and flooding brought by El Niño threaten crops around the world, raising the risk of increased prices and famines
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Rare cancer spread between twins in utero
In a very rare case, a fetus developed cancer in the uterus, and these tumour cells spread to her twin sister
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Dinosaur named new species 102 years after fossil found on Isle of Wight
Invictibellatrix amberina, a predator in the megaraptoran group of dinosaurs, lived in what is now Britain 120 million years ago and may have had claws 20 centimetres long
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Dogs are susceptible to the bouba-kiki effect
Just like humans, dogs seem to associate the nonsense word “bouba” with a rounded shape and “kiki” with a spiky shape, suggesting the connection stems from brain mechanisms that are shared between species
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Brain training shows promise for short-term depression relief
Training that encourages people to alter their brain's activity seems to reduce negative emotions among people with depression, but not in the way researchers expected
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Precision oncology: A revolutionary way of targeting tumours could beat even the worst cancers
We have long treated cancer based on its location in the body. But a whole new approach that analyses tumours differently is now helping people survive forms of cancer that were once considered a death sentence
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The land's ability to store carbon has bounced back after two bad years
Carbon absorption by forests and grasslands bounced back in 2025 thanks to favourable growing conditions, but El Niño could lead to another sharp slump next year
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Will we observe dark matter as a particle or a wave?
We have arguably already discovered dark matter, says columnist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. To observe it, we will need to figure out whether we expect it to act like a particle or a wave.
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Cells from your mother could stay in your brain your whole life
Most people seem to have cells that crossed the placenta from their mother into their developing brain in utero, even if they're now in their 80s
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The Monte Verde controversy is back: who first lived in the Americas?
The Monte Verde sites in Chile have been the source of arguments among archaeologists for decades. Columnist Michael Marshall finds the row is heating up again – and could change our understanding of the first peoples in the Americas
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Do AIs already process information in a way that gives rise to consciousness?
A leading theory of consciousness explains experience as information flowing through a global workspace in the mind. On board a luxury yacht, neuroscientists and philosophers recently debated signs of a similar workspace in the chatbot Claude
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Why the worst El Niño killed millions – and how we can avoid a repeat
The world hasn't experienced an El Niño this strong since the 1870s, when it sparked a terrible global famine. Are we better prepared this time?
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Nearly 1 in 10 young adults could have fatty, narrow arteries
Atherosclerosis, the build-up of fatty plaque in arteries, usually affects people older than 50, but a "meaningful" proportion of younger adults also have the condition
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Does each new covid-19 variant pose a significant threat?
Most covid-19 cases are caused by a particular type of variant, but do we need to worry every time a new one emerges?
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Rising water is creating inland ghost forests in the US
Forests full of dead trees aren’t just found by the US coasts – they are also appearing far from the sea around freshwater lakes
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Tattoos could be turned on and off with light
A new type of ink could overcome one of the main downsides of tattoos: the inability to make them invisible
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The Remotes review: Grief and tech collide in uneasily brilliant sci-fi film The Remotes
Shown at the New York Film Festival, John Torres’s film The Remotes tells of a mysterious app that seems to be controlling drivers' bodies, causing them to crash. It is challenging but worth it, says Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
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Two large asteroids found spinning as fast as a fairground ride
Rocks in the asteroid belt rotating at ultra-fast speeds suggest our understanding of asteroid structure might be wrong
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Number of known species of giant waterlilies almost doubles
A new species of giant waterlily identified with the help of social media and satellite photos is just one of three discovered in the past few years
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Record El Niño threatens Great Barrier Reef with ecological shift
Researchers are worried about the impact the strongest-known El Niño will have on the Great Barrier Reef, and whether anything can be done to avert the World Heritage Area’s demise
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AI or ‘super intelligence’? Trump isn’t the only one who is confused
US President Donald Trump has declared that artificial intelligence should now be called “super intelligence”. Columnist Jacob Aron explains where that term came from and explores whether its many historical meanings apply today
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OpenAI mistranslated mathematics into code for its Navier-Stokes proof
When OpenAI announced its surprise solution to the Navier-Stokes problem, it produced one proof for humans and one for computers – however, they don't match
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The big unanswered question about Russia's 'plague' death
Russia says it is winding down precautionary measures taken after a lab worker at a plague research institute died. But what made officials think these were needed at all?
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The world may never go back to how it was after this monster El Niño
This El Niño is forecast to end around June next year after smashing all records, but its impacts could persist indefinitely in some parts of the world
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Climate satire Digger – with Tom Cruise on top form - is full of surprises
What are we to make of Digger, a climate satire by a normally well-respected film-maker that’s been largely panned by critics? Stay with it and you’ll find out, says Bethan Ackerley
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The most interesting mathematical discoveries in OpenAI's 722 new papers
OpenAI has released hundreds of papers claiming to make progress on the biggest open problems in mathematics – here are some with the most potential
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Last Word: What forces act on fluid moving through a pipe to make it spiral?
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
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Why gatekeeping is needed in the age of AI
Large language models have unleashed a torrent of text – dealing with it won't be easy
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Last Word: Do olfactory illusions exist, similar to optical and audio illusions? part 3
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
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194-year-old tortoise has exceptional DNA repair systems that fight off ageing
The genome of Jonathan the giant tortoise, a 194-year-old resident of St Helena island, has been probed to understand how he has been alive for more than double his species’ average life expectancy
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Twisteddoodles: 'I made an AI version of you'
This week's cartoon from Twisteddoodles
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Neanderthal Europe was as much a wooden age as a stone age
When Neanderthals dominated Europe, it was likely that wood was at least as important to them as stone for working into tools
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Have we found the world's nichest science-themed tourist attraction?
Feedback's long-running quest to discover delightfully obscure science sites may have reached its zenith with the discovery of two excellent museums in Zagreb