Fish-based pet food may expose cats and dogs to forever chemicals
A survey of 100 commercial foods for dogs and cats revealed that PFAS chemicals appear in numerous brands and types, with fish-based products among those with the highest levels ⌘ Read more

Fresh understanding of the causes of migraine reveals new drug targets
New insights into the causes of migraine is prompting a fresh look at a drug target that was sidelined 25 years ago ⌘ Read more

Search for radio signals finds no hint of alien civilisation on K2-18b
Planet K2-18b, an apparent water world 124 light years away, has been seen as a promising location in the search for aliens, but telescopes on Earth failed to pick up any radio transmissions ⌘ Read more

Ultra-processed foods could be making you age faster
We’ve been missing an important contributor to ageing, says columnist Graham Lawton. Ultra-processed foods are known to be associated with many chronic health problems, but studies have now shown they may also speed up ageing ⌘ Read more

New fossils may settle debate over mysterious sail-backed spinosaurs
Spinosaurs have sometimes been portrayed as swimmers or divers, but a new species of these dinosaurs bolsters the idea that they were more like gigantic herons ⌘ Read more

Atmospheric pollution caused by space junk could be a huge problem
After a Falcon 9 rocket stage burned up in the atmosphere, vaporised lithium and other metals drifted over Europe. This growing type of pollution could destroy ozone and form climate-warming clouds ⌘ Read more

Is our galaxy’s black hole actually made of dark matter?
An exotic type of dark matter could explain some of the characteristics of our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, but many cosmologists are leery of the idea ⌘ Read more

Microbe with the smallest genome yet pushes the boundaries of life
Symbiotic bacteria living inside insect cells have lost much of their DNA over hundreds of millions of years, much like the ancient microbes that evolved into mitochondria ⌘ Read more

More dog breeds found to have high risk of breathing condition
An assessment of nearly 900 dogs has identified 12 breeds prone to brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome, which can affect dogs’ ability to sleep and exercise ⌘ Read more

Paediatricians’ blood used to make new treatments for RSV and colds
Antibodies harvested from the blood of paediatricians are up to 25 times better at protecting against the common respiratory infection RSV than existing antibody therapies, and are now being developed as preventative treatments ⌘ Read more

Why some people cannot move on from the death of a loved one
Prolonged grief disorder affects around 1 in 20 people, and we’re starting to understand the neuroscience behind it ⌘ Read more

Data centres could store information in glass for thousands of years
Microsoft researchers have developed a technology that writes data into glass with lasers, raising the prospect of robotic libraries full of glass tablets packed with data ⌘ Read more

Postpartum depression in dads is common – we can now spot and treat it
Fathers may get postpartum depression at a similar rate to mothers, but it’s often overlooked. At last, the way we diagnose and treat it is improving, for the good of the whole family ⌘ Read more

How baby microbiomes in the West differ from those everywhere else
Babies in the West commonly lack a gut microbe that is found in infants in other parts of the world, which may be due to differences in their mothers’ diets ⌘ Read more

Ultramarathons could be bad for your blood
Running 170 kilometres over mountainous terrain caused people’s red blood cells to accumulate more age-related damage than those of less ambitious athletes ⌘ Read more

Did a cloud-seeding start-up really increase snowfall in part of Utah?
A technology that uses a coiled wire to electrify aerosols has boosted snowfall amid a drought in the western US, according to the company developing it, but the results haven’t convinced other scientists ⌘ Read more

Scientists want to put a super laser on the moon
An ultrastable laser could enable extremely precise timing and navigation on the moon, and the cold, dark craters near the lunar poles would be the ideal location for it ⌘ Read more

The untold story of our remarkable hands and how they made us human
The evolution of human hands is one of the most important – and overlooked – stories of our origin. Now, new fossil evidence is revealing their pivotal role ⌘ Read more

Giant viruses may be more alive than we thought
A giant virus encodes part of the protein-making toolkit of cells that gives it greater control over its amoeba host, raising questions about how it evolved and how such beings relate to living organisms ⌘ Read more

Dream hacking helps people solve complex problems in their sleep
Hearing a sound while working on a complex puzzle, and then hearing it again during sleep, helped lucid dreamers better tackle the problem the next day ⌘ Read more

Psychedelic reduces depression symptoms after just one dose
The psychedelic DMT has been linked to improved mental health outcomes before, but now, scientists have shown it reduces depression symptoms more than a placebo when given alongside therapeutic support ⌘ Read more

We’ve glimpsed before the big bang and it’s not what we expected
The big bang wasn’t the start of everything, but it has been impossible to see what came before. Now a new kind of cosmology is lifting the veil on the beginning of time ⌘ Read more

Humans are the only primates with a chin – now we finally know why
Biologists have debated the reason why Homo sapiens evolved a prominent lower jaw, but this unique feature may actually be a by-product of other traits shaped by natural selection ⌘ Read more

Can we ever know the shape of the universe?
The shape of the cosmos depends on a balance of two competing forces: the pull of gravity and the expansion driven by dark energy. Columnist Leah Crane explores what observations tell us about how much universe is out there and whether it’s shaped like a sheet, a saddle or something else entirely ⌘ Read more

Intermittent fasting probably doesn’t help with weight loss
Intermittent fasting appears to be no better than doing nothing when it comes to helping people who are overweight or have obesity lose weight ⌘ Read more

These 5 diets could add years to your life even if you have bad genes
Five dietary patterns that involve eating lots of plants have been linked with living up to three years longer, even among people who are genetically predisposed to have a shorter life ⌘ Read more

World’s oldest cold virus found in 18th-century woman’s lungs
Finding rhinoviruses, which cause the common cold, in preserved medical specimens and analysing their RNA genome could let us trace the evolution of human illness ⌘ Read more

Huge hot blobs inside Earth may have made its magnetic field wonky
Simulations suggest that two enormous masses of hot rock have been involved in generating Earth’s magnetic field and giving it an irregular shape ⌘ Read more

Accidental discovery hints at mystery structures within our brain
Scientists may have stumbled across a network of vessels in the brain that helps clear out waste fluid – a discovery that could “represent a paradigm shift in our understanding of all neurodegenerative diseases” ⌘ Read more

CAR T-cell therapy may slow neurodegenerative conditions like ALS
Immune cells in the brain that go rogue contribute to the death of neurons, so getting rid of them may slow the progression of neurodegenerative conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ⌘ Read more

Why self-expansion is the key to long-lasting love and friendship
A growing body of psychological research shows that the best relationships – romantic or otherwise – come with a feeling of personal growth. Columnist David Robson explores the evidence-backed ways to broaden our horizons and connect more deeply with our loves, our friends and ourselves ⌘ Read more

RNA strand that can almost self-replicate may be key to life’s origins
Life may have begun when RNA molecules began to replicate themselves, and now we’ve finally found an RNA molecule that is very close to being able to do this ⌘ Read more

Weird inside-out planet system may have formed one world at a time
The planets around a nearby star seem to be in the wrong order, hinting that they formed through a different mechanism than the familiar one by which most systems grow ⌘ Read more

Endurance brain cells may determine how long you can run for
The activity of certain neurons may influence our endurance for exercise, and these could be targeted to help us run faster for longer ⌘ Read more

Gene editing that spreads within the body could cure more diseases
The idea of self-amplifying gene editing is to get cells to pass on packages of CRISPR machinery to their neighbours, boosting the effect ⌘ Read more

Royal Navy returns to wind power with trial of robotic sailboats
A fleet of wind-propelled robot boats could act as a sensor network covering a wide area and relay acoustic signals to a submarine ⌘ Read more

Ancient Peruvian civilisation grew mighty by harvesting guano
The Chincha Kingdom was transporting seabird excrement from islands to valleys as early as the 13th century, and this powerful fertiliser may have been key to its economic success ⌘ Read more

Putting a price tag on nature failed. Can radical tactics save it?
Biologists have long thought that speaking to nature’s economic value would persuade boardrooms it was worth saving. It hasn’t worked – so what, if anything, will? ⌘ Read more

The surprising origins of Britain’s Bronze Age immigrants revealed
About 4600 years ago, the population of Britain was replaced by a people who brought Bell Beaker pottery with them. Now, ancient DNA has uncovered the surprising story of where these people came from ⌘ Read more

First ever inhalable gene therapy for cancer gets fast-tracked by FDA
A gene therapy that patients breathe in has been found to shrink lung tumours by inserting immune-boosting genes into surrounding cells ⌘ Read more

This state’s power prices are plummeting as it nears 100% renewables
South Australia is proving to the world that relying largely on wind and solar energy with battery back-up is incredibly cheap, with electricity prices tumbling by 30 per cent in a year and sometimes going negative ⌘ Read more

Newborn marsupials seen crawling to mother’s pouch for the first time
Scientists have captured remarkable footage of the young of a mouse-sized marsupial, called a fat-tailed dunnart, making their way to their mother’s pouch soon after being born ⌘ Read more

Which humans first made tools or art – and how do we know?
Building the human story based on a few artefacts is tricky – particularly for wooden tools that don’t preserve well, or cave art that we don’t have the technology to date. Columnist Michael Marshall explores how we determine what came first in the timeline of our species ⌘ Read more

Time crystals could be used to build accurate quantum clocks
Once considered an oddity of quantum physics, time crystals could be a good building block for accurate clocks and sensors, according to new calculations ⌘ Read more

Old EV batteries could meet most of China’s energy storage needs
Electric vehicle batteries are typically retired once they reach about 80 per cent of their original capacity, but they could be repurposed in electricity grids to balance out slumps in renewable generation ⌘ Read more

Why 1.5°C failed and setting a new limit would make things worse
Setting a limit for global warming didn’t succeed in galvanising climate action quickly enough – now we should focus on making the annual average temperature rise clear for all to see, says Bill McGuire ⌘ Read more

Is this carved rock an ancient Roman board game?
The lines worn into an engraved limestone object from the Netherlands are consistent with the idea that it was a Roman game board, according to an AI analysis ⌘ Read more

‘Hidden’ group of gut bacteria may be essential to good health
Scientists have pinpointed a group of bacteria that consistently appear in high numbers in healthy people, suggesting that these could one day be targeted through diet or probiotics ⌘ Read more

We’re finally abandoning BMI for better ways to assess body fat
People classed as “overweight” according to BMI can be perfectly healthy. But there are better measures of fat, and physicians are finally using them ⌘ Read more

Specific cognitive training has ‘astonishing’ effect on dementia risk
A type of cognitive training that tests people’s quick recall seems to reduce the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease ⌘ Read more