Any wall can be turned into a camera to see around corners
Researchers have developed algorithms that reconstruct a hidden image from the scrambled light waves that bounce off a wall, making it possible to see things behind a corner ⌘ Read more

At this rate, carbon dioxide removal will never matter for the climate
The carbon dioxide removal industry is struggling to grow at the pace needed to have a significant role in meeting climate targets ⌘ Read more

Should you still learn a second language if AI can translate for you?
Artificial intelligence has removed many of the barriers to understanding a new language, but there are still good reasons to do things the old-fashioned way ⌘ Read more

PTSD in 9/11 responders didn’t start improving for nearly a decade
Most 9/11 first responders experienced improvement in PTSD symptoms about 10 years after the traumatic event, but approximately 10 per cent saw symptoms worsen even two decades later ⌘ Read more

How does the pill affect your brain? We’re finally getting answers
Millions of women and teenage girls use oral contraception, but we are only now getting an idea of what effect these drugs have on our brains ⌘ Read more

Our verdict on Ringworld by Larry Niven: Nice maths, shame about Teela
Culture editor Alison Flood rounds up the New Scientist Book Club’s thoughts on our latest read, the science fiction classic Ringworld by Larry Niven ⌘ Read more

Read an extract from time-travel novel The Ministry of Time
In this short extract from Kaliane Bradley’s sci-fi novel, her protagonist makes a startling discovery about the nature of time ⌘ Read more

‘Time travel was just a metaphor for controlling a narrative’
The Ministry of Time author Kaliane Bradley on how she made time travel work in her bestselling novel, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club ⌘ Read more

First evidence of ancient birds nesting above the Arctic circle
Tiny bone fragments from Alaska suggest birds started breeding and nesting in the Arctic 30 million years earlier than previously thought ⌘ Read more

Leprosy was in the Americas long before the arrival of Europeans
The history books say Europeans brought leprosy to the Americas, but analysis of ancient DNA reveals that a form of the disease was present in Argentina and Canada much earlier ⌘ Read more

Will SpaceX’s Starship rocket ever work - and what if it doesn’t?
The failure of SpaceX’s ninth Starship launch has raised fresh concerns about the future of the rocket, but is there any alternative to Elon Musk’s approach to space? ⌘ Read more

Amazing images reveal new details in the sun’s atmosphere
City-sized droplets and twisting streams of plasma have been picked up by incredibly detailed images of the sun’s corona, showing our star as we’ve never seen it before ⌘ Read more

Qubit breakthrough could make it easier to build quantum computers
Quantum computers that correct their own errors usually require hundreds of thousands of qubits. Start-up Nord Quantique claims it can dramatically decrease that number – but many challenges remain ⌘ Read more

Dark chocolate is rich in flavanols. Does that make it a health food?
Antioxidants like cocoa flavanols may benefit heart health, brain ageing and the microbiome. Columnist Alexandra Thompson investigates whether it’s time to rethink chocolate ⌘ Read more

Before the Great Wall, Chinese rulers built a shallow ditch
A network of trenches, walls and enclosures built across the steppes of China and Mongolia 800 years ago seems to have been erected to control the flow of people, perhaps for tax reasons ⌘ Read more

We’re about to unlock the secrets of ancient human brains
For the first time, we have a method for extracting proteins from preserved soft tissues like brains – which could be a treasure trove of evolutionary information ⌘ Read more

Massive glacier collapse triggers landslide that buries Swiss village
Villagers in Blatten, Switzerland, were evacuated earlier this month after authorities warned a nearby glacier was on the brink of collapse – one of many becoming less stable as global temperature rise ⌘ Read more

How your whole imagination is conjured up from three brain processes
Understanding the neurological systems that produce the world inside your head can help you to harness its transformative power ⌘ Read more

Do we have free will? Quantum experiments may soon reveal the answer
Whether or not we have partial free will could soon be resolved by experiments in quantum physics, with potential consequences for everything from religion to quantum computers ⌘ Read more

How visualisation sets you up for success by changing your cognition
The vividness of your mind’s eye isn’t fixed - and training it up is the secret tool of top athletes and businesspeople. Here’s how you can help develop yours ⌘ Read more

Fossils show puzzling lack of evolution during last ice age peak
Thousands of fossils from the La Brea tar pits in California show no signs of mammals and birds evolving in response to shifting temperatures over the past 50,000 years ⌘ Read more

You can make fair dice from any shape you like
Want to roll an armadillo when you play Dungeons & Dragons, instead of standard dice? Now you can, thanks to a technique for mapping the probabilities produced by any shape ⌘ Read more

We’re getting close to recreating the first step in evolution of life
Life is thought to have begun when RNA began replicating itself, and researchers have got close to achieving this in the lab ⌘ Read more

Your imagination holds the power to make you healthier and happier
Imagination isn’t mere childhood whimsy – harnessing its extraordinary capacities can benefit us all ⌘ Read more

The world could experience a year above 2°C of warming by 2029
2024 was the first single year to surpass the 1.5°C global warming threshold – now scientists predict that a year above 2°C is possible in the near future ⌘ Read more

The extremes of imagination reveal how our brains perceive reality
The worlds inside our heads can be dramatically different. What does that reveal about how our minds shape our lives, asks cognitive neurologist Adam Zeman ⌘ Read more

Medieval woman was executed and displayed on London riverbank
A skeleton found in London records a brutal killing about 1200 years ago, thought to be a rare example of a judicial execution of a woman in medieval England ⌘ Read more

Humans were crafting tools from whale bones 20,000 years ago
More than 60 ancient tools found in France and Spain have been identified as whale bone, and the evidence shows that people made tools from this material a thousand years earlier than previously thought ⌘ Read more

The four types of imagination and how they create our worlds
Your imagination isn’t just one thing. The latest neuroscience is untangling just how diverse this faculty really is, says cognitive neurologist Adam Zeman ⌘ Read more

The sun is killing off SpaceX’s Starlink satellites
There have never been so many satellites orbiting Earth as there are today, thanks in part to the launch of mega constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink internet service - and now we are learning just how the sun’s activity can affect them ⌘ Read more

How fast you age is dictated by your sex, ethnicity and education
The pace of ageing accelerates as you get older, and it is linked to an individual’s sex, ethnicity and level of education, according to studies of US and UK populations ⌘ Read more

Cord blood banking is not living up to its promise
Banking a baby’s umbilical cord blood was once seen as a reasonable way to protect their future health, but much of that potential has turned out to be mere hype ⌘ Read more

How captured carbon dioxide could help mine carbon-negative nickel
Captured carbon dioxide could be injected deep in the Earth to dissolve rocks, freeing up nickel and other key metals vital for batteries ⌘ Read more

Physicists are waging a cosmic battle over the nature of dark energy
Results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) suggest that dark energy, a mysterious force in the universe, is changing over time. This would completely re-write our understanding of the cosmos - but now other physicists are challenging this view ⌘ Read more

A photon caught in two places at once could destroy the multiverse
The idea of a multiverse of universes is derived from a particular interpretation of quantum mechanics, but now a new twist on a classic experiment says it is time to put the idea to bed ⌘ Read more

Trump’s Golden Dome defence project could spur a space arms race
US President Trump has proposed a Golden Dome defence system that includes missile interceptors in space. But the idea would cost hundreds of billions of dollars – and could accelerate the weaponisation of space ⌘ Read more

Are microplastics in ultra-processed food harming your mental health?
Many people are worried about the health effects of ultra-processed foods and microplastics, but could these two issues actually be linked? ⌘ Read more

Why birds decorate their nests with weird and unnatural objects
Puzzlingly, many birds add human-made material to their nests with no obvious function – now there is evidence that these home improvements might ward off predators ⌘ Read more

Flash floods sweep through vital sanctuary for Australian animals
Wildlife carers fostering some of Australia’s most precious animals have had to rescue them one by one from rising waters and are now racing to repair fencing that keeps feral predators away ⌘ Read more

New dwarf planet spotted at the edge of the solar system
The unusual orbit of a possible dwarf planet, known as 2017 OF201, makes it less likely that our solar system contains a hidden ninth “Planet X” ⌘ Read more

Ultracold atoms have been ‘hyperentangled’ for the first time
By exerting unprecedented control over extremely cold atoms, researchers have put them in a state with several simultaneously quantum-entangled properties ⌘ Read more

Giant ground sloths evolved three different times for the same reason
An analysis of the sloth family tree suggests three different groups of the animals evolved to gigantic sizes in response to cold and dry conditions ⌘ Read more

Special contact lenses let you see infrared light – even in the dark
Nanoparticle-infused contact lenses can transform infrared radiation into different colours of visible light, potentially enabling a new form of night vision – no batteries required ⌘ Read more

Penguin poo helps keep Antarctica cool
Huge colonies of penguins in Antarctica fill the air with ammonia, which boosts particles in the atmosphere that allow climate-cooling clouds to form ⌘ Read more

Colossal scientist now admits they haven’t really made dire wolves
Despite a huge media fanfare in which Colossal Biosciences claimed to have resurrected the extinct dire wolf, the company’s chief scientist now concedes that the animals are merely modified grey wolves ⌘ Read more

Giant boulder on clifftop in Tonga was carried by a 50-metre-high wave
A huge tsunami hit a cliff in Tonga 7000 years ago and carried a 1200-tonne boulder 200 metres inland, making it the biggest wave-lifted boulder ever found on a cliff ⌘ Read more

Honeybees are getting confused by electric pollution from power lines
Airborne electric fields similar to those from nearby power lines seem to have a dramatic effect on honeybee foraging, raising concerns about widespread impacts on pollinators ⌘ Read more

How to boost your brain power just by changing how you breathe
We mostly breathe subconsciously, but columnist Helen Thomson finds evidence that the brain functions differently when inhaling or exhaling, or breathing through your nose or mouth ⌘ Read more

Extra cancer screening could help pick up early cases in dense breasts
Dense breast tissue can make tumours hard to spot on mammogram scans, but adding another step to this screening programme could help identify such cases ⌘ Read more

Why taping your mouth shut at night probably isn’t a good idea
Social media is awash with videos claiming that taping your mouth closed will improve your sleep – but the evidence doesn’t stack up ⌘ Read more