Bonobos use a kind of syntax once thought to be unique to humans
The way bonobos combine vocal sounds to create new meanings suggests the evolutionary building blocks of human language are shared with our closest relatives ⌘ Read more

Mammoth tusk flakes may be the oldest ivory objects made by humans
Ancient humans living in what is now Ukraine 400,000 years ago may have practised or taught tool-making techniques using mammoth tusks, a softer material than bone ⌘ Read more

We could make solar panels on the moon by melting lunar dust
Researchers used a synthetic version of moon dust to build working solar panels, which could eventually be created within – and used to power – a moon base of the future ⌘ Read more

Ozempic weight loss is deemed less praiseworthy than lifestyle changes
People seem to be less impressed when others lose weight with the drug Ozempic than when they achieve it via lifestyle changes ⌘ Read more

Extreme weather could disrupt China’s renewable energy boom
As China’s vast electrical grid relies more on wind, solar and hydropower, it faces a growing risk of power shortages due to bad weather – and that could encourage the use of coal plants ⌘ Read more

The best retro games console is the one you played at age 10
Nostalgia for video games seems to be strongest for those played during childhood – at least for Nintendo Switch players ⌘ Read more

Ice-monitoring drones set for first tests in the Arctic
High-speed drones will be put to the test in the extreme Arctic environment as part of a project to assess how quickly glaciers in Greenland are retreating ⌘ Read more

It is time to close the autism diagnosis gender gap
For decades, autistic women and girls have had to play “diagnostic bingo” before getting their true diagnosis. As new neuroscience offers a fresh understanding of the condition, the time for change is now ⌘ Read more

The epic quest to redefine the second using the world’s best clocks
A more precise definition of the second is crucial to all sorts of physical measurements – but to get there, scientists have to pack up their extraordinarily fragile optical clocks and take them on tour ⌘ Read more

Plant skin grafts could result in new kinds of vegetables
A company in the Netherlands says it has perfected a way to create “graft chimeras” with the skin of one plant and the innards of another ⌘ Read more

The best new science fiction books of April 2025
From robot rights to ageing and climate change, this month’s science fiction squares up to the big topics, with new titles from authors including Nick Harkaway and Eve Smith ⌘ Read more

Weekend workouts can be as valuable as exercising throughout the week
Squeezing exercise into one or two days a week seems to have similar health benefits as doing the same amount of physical activity spread out throughout the week ⌘ Read more

US government fired researchers running a crucial drug use survey
A termination letter obtained by New Scientist reveals that the Trump administration has gutted the office that runs the country’s only nationwide survey on drug use and mental health ⌘ Read more

How nothing could destroy the universe
The concept of nothing once sparked a 1000-year-long war, today it might explain dark energy and nothingness even has the potential to destroy the universe, explains physicist Antonio Padilla ⌘ Read more

NASA cut $420 million for climate science, moon modelling and more
Under pressure from Elon Musk’s DOGE task force, NASA is cancelling grants and contracts for everything from lunar dust research to educational programmes ⌘ Read more

The animals revealing why human culture isn’t as special as we thought
Even animals with very small brains turn out to have cultural traditions, which poses a puzzler for biologists wondering what makes human culture unique ⌘ Read more

Do Ozempic and Wegovy really cause hair loss?
As semaglutide-based weight loss treatments, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, become more popular, new side effects are emerging - and one is hair loss ⌘ Read more

Aged human urine is a pungent pesticide as well as a fertiliser
Urine that has sat in the sun for a while seems to fertilise crops while warding off pests, without affecting the produce’s taste ⌘ Read more

Monkeys use crafty techniques to get junk food from tourists
At the Dakshineswar temple complex in India, Hanuman langurs beg for food by grabbing visitors’ legs or tugging on their clothes – and they don’t stop until they get their favourite snacks ⌘ Read more

US bridges are at risk of catastrophic ship collisions every few years
After a container ship struck and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, researchers began calculating the risks of similar catastrophic incidents for other US bridges – and they’re surprisingly high ⌘ Read more

Cave spiders use their webs in a way that hasn’t been seen before
Cave-dwelling orb spiders have adapted their webs so they act as tripwires for prey that crawl on the walls of the caves ⌘ Read more

A revolutionary new understanding of autism in girls
By studying the brains of autistic girls, we now know the condition presents differently in them than in boys, suggesting that huge numbers of women have gone undiagnosed ⌘ Read more

Unusually tiny hominin deepens mystery of our Paranthropus cousin
Paranthropus was an ape-like hominin that survived alongside early humans for more than a million years. A fossilised leg belonging to a strikingly small member of the group raises questions about how it did so ⌘ Read more

Dramatic cuts in China’s air pollution drove surge in global warming
The rate at which the planet is warming has sped up since 2010, and now researchers say that China’s efforts to clean up air pollution are inadvertently responsible for the majority of this extra warming ⌘ Read more

Does aspirin have potential as an anti-cancer drug?
Taking aspirin was first linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer in 1988, but the research into its anti-tumour potential has been full of twists and turns since then ⌘ Read more

Are Trump’s cuts to science the end of the endless frontier?
Since the second world war, US economic prosperity and major technological developments have hinged upon the government’s commitment to funding scientific research. The Trump administration is ending that ⌘ Read more

Measles is spreading across the US – here is what you need to know
The US has confirmed more than 480 measles cases across 19 states, the highest total since an outbreak in 2019 sickened more than 1200 people ⌘ Read more

Asteroid 2024 YR4 could still hit the moon, JWST observations reveal
Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe asteroid 2024 YR4, which earlier this year seemed to be at risk of hitting Earth in 2032. Earth is now safe, but astronomers are cheering on a possible collision with the moon ⌘ Read more

Could a new kind of carbon budget ensure top emitters pay their dues?
Some researchers propose that countries should start to rack up a carbon debt once they exceed their carbon budget, obliging them to do more to draw down carbon dioxide, but the idea is unlikely to form part of international climate agreements ⌘ Read more

Distracted by your phone? Putting it out of reach may not help
When researchers asked people to work on a computer with their phones 1.5 metres away, the amount of time they spent on their phone went down – but they just scrolled social media on their laptop instead ⌘ Read more

Little red dots seen by JWST might be a kind of black hole ‘star’
Red specks in the early universe are puzzling astronomers, but a proposed explanation suggests they are the progenitors of supermassive black holes ⌘ Read more

Flourishing microalgae could offset emissions as the planet heats up
Photosynthesising microbes in soil may increase their activity as temperatures rise, offsetting some of the carbon emissions expected to be released from peatland and permafrost ⌘ Read more

What is vibe coding, should you be doing it, and does it matter?
The rise of large language models like ChatGPT that can churn out computer code has led to a new term - vibe coding - for people who create software by asking AI to do it for them ⌘ Read more

Ancient wasp may have used its rear end to trap flies
Bizarre parasitic wasps preserved in amber about 99 million years ago had trap-like abdomens that they may have used to immobilise other insects ⌘ Read more

Pregnancy’s lasting effects on different parts of the body revealed
An “unprecedented view” of how the body changes during and after pregnancy has revealed many long-lasting impacts on the liver, kidneys and more ⌘ Read more

The Ozempic era is only just beginning
In the past year, treatments such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound have become household names. But there are many questions left to answer, not least what the future holds for weight-loss medications and society at large ⌘ Read more

Why do giraffes have spots? Not for the reason you might think
The size and shape of a giraffe’s spots seem to influence how well the animals survive when temperatures get hotter or colder than normal ⌘ Read more

An early hint of cosmic dawn has been seen in a distant galaxy
A galaxy inside a bubble may be evidence that the universe was starting to become transparent 330 million years after the big bang ⌘ Read more

Mathematician wins 2025 Abel prize for tools to solve tricky equations
Masaki Kashiwara has won the 2025 Abel prize, seen by some as the Nobel of mathematics, for his contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory ⌘ Read more

What do GLP-1 drugs really tell us about the brain’s reward system?
Anecdotal reports suggest drugs like Ozempic may curb not just appetite but also impulsive or addictive behaviour, hinting at links between metabolic health and our brains ⌘ Read more

We may have found the edge of quantum theory – what’s beyond it?
Researchers have identified the border between quantum physics and some as-yet-unknown post-quantum realm by mathematically analysing all possible measurements of simple quantum systems ⌘ Read more

Wood made transparent using rice and egg whites could replace windows
Transparent wood, made by stripping organic polymers and replacing them with a mixture of egg whites and rice extract, could be used as windows and smartphone screens ⌘ Read more

Sharks aren’t silent after all
A species of houndshark called Mustelus lenticulatus makes sharp clicking noises when handled. Until now, sharks as a group were thought to be universally quiet ⌘ Read more

Fake pills ease PMS symptoms even when you know they’re placebos
Women with premenstrual syndrome reported big improvements in their symptoms after taking placebo pills, despite knowing they did not contain any active ingredients ⌘ Read more

Foie gras made without force-feeding thanks to molecular mimicry
Scientists have replicated the luxurious mouthfeel of foie gras using the liver and fat of ducks reared and slaughtered normally, avoiding the controversial techniques involved in traditional production ⌘ Read more

Ex-UK cyber chief says asking Apple to break encryption was ‘naive’
Ciaran Martin, the former head of cyber security at GCHQ, says the UK government was “naive” to expect a request for Apple to weaken its encryption services to remain secret. He thinks governments must come to terms with the fact that uncrackable encryption is here to stay. ⌘ Read more

Smartphones may be beneficial to children – if they avoid social media
In the ongoing debate over the benefits and harms of smartphone use in children, initial data from a US survey suggests the devices can actually improve well-being and social connections, but social media use may be more harmful ⌘ Read more

Floating wood could help us refreeze the Arctic seas
Floating platforms of wood could draw up seawater and help it to freeze, seeding the formation of new sea ice ⌘ Read more

Even moderate CO2 emissions could lead to 7°C of warming by 2200
There’s a small chance of very high warming even with moderate future emissions, according to a computer model exploring what could happen in the next thousand years ⌘ Read more

How a surprising twist on rewilding could help settle our carbon debt
We’ve pumped huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that needs to be paid back. Large animals like wolves, bison and whales may already be tackling the problem ⌘ Read more