How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic
As the US grapples with an ongoing bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle, the country’s health agencies are ramping up surveillance efforts and working to develop a vaccine if needed ⌘ Read more

Bowhead whales still harmed from whaling that ended a century ago
Commercial bowhead whaling ended in the early 20th century, but the industry’s lasting effects on the whales’ genetic diversity are leading to declines again ⌘ Read more

5 extraordinary ideas about the mind and what it means to be conscious
To celebrate the launch of our new event series in the US, kicking off with a masterclass on the brain and consciousness, we have unlocked five incredible long reads ⌘ Read more

Rare mutation that causes short stature may shed light on ageing
The genetic variant, which causes people to be insensitive to growth hormone, may also protect people from heart disease ⌘ Read more

Asteroid that broke up over Berlin was fastest-spinning one ever seen
Before it shattered over Germany, the asteroid 2024 BX1 was clocked rotating once every 2.6 seconds – the fastest spin we have observed ⌘ Read more

Global warming could make tides higher as well as raising sea levels
In addition to the overall rise in sea level, the heights of tides are also changing as the oceans warm and separate into more distinct layers ⌘ Read more

Two medicines for opioid addiction also help with compulsive gambling
The medicines nalmefene and naltrexone helped compulsive gamblers reduce their betting activities, trials have shown ⌘ Read more

Swarm of nanorobots can remove tiny plastic fragments from water
In just 2 hours, small metal robots can capture most nanoscopic plastic particles from a sample of water ⌘ Read more

Wasps use face-recognition brain cells to identify each other
The neurons in wasp brains that help them recognise hive mates are similar to those in the brains of primates, including humans ⌘ Read more

Supermassive black holes may provide a nursery for mini ones to grow
The supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies may capture smaller black holes. Not only does this prove a place for the small black holes to grow, it also makes the supermassive ones look even bigger and brighter ⌘ Read more

Birthplace of red asteroid Kamo‘oalewa pinned to specific moon crater
The redness of asteroid 469219 Kamo‘oalewa marks it out as probably originating on the moon, and now we might know the exact impact crater it was launched from ⌘ Read more

Rat neuron injection lets mice that can’t smell sniff out cookies
Mice that had been genetically modified to lack the ability to smell could sniff out hidden cookies when sensory neurons from rats were grown in their brains ⌘ Read more

Modern rose hybrids have a worrying lack of genetic diversity
Intensive breeding since the 19th century has created thousands of varieties of rose, but a reduction in genetic diversity could leave them vulnerable to diseases and climate change ⌘ Read more

Brain activity seems to be more complex in baby girls than boys
When fetuses and babies were exposed to sound stimuli, their brains’ subsequent electrical activity appeared to be more complicated in the females than the males ⌘ Read more

India’s healthcare system falls short despite Modi’s improvements
More than 1.4 billion people live in India, giving its healthcare system a major role in planetary well-being. In the past 10 years, prime minister Narendra Modi has worked to improve India’s healthcare, but there is still much work to be done ⌘ Read more

Can India build a world-leading computer chip industry from scratch?
India currently has a fairly small chip-manufacturing industry, but prime minister Narendra Modi wants the country to become a dominant player in the sector in just a few years ⌘ Read more

Japan’s SLIM moon lander has shockingly survived a third lunar night
Almost all moon landers break down during the extraordinary cold of lunar night, but Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon has astonishingly survived three nights ⌘ Read more

Quantum forces used to automatically assemble tiny device
The very weak forces of attraction caused by the Casimir effect can now be used to manipulate microscopic gold flakes and turn them into a light-trapping tool ⌘ Read more

Culling predatory starfish conserves coral on the Great Barrier Reef
Targeted culling of crown-of-thorns starfish has resulted in parts of the Great Barrier Reef maintaining and even increasing coral cover, leading researchers to call for the programme to be dramatically scaled up ⌘ Read more

Huge genetic study redraws the tree of life for flowering plants
Using genomic data from more than 9500 species, biologists have mapped the evolutionary relationships between flowering plants ⌘ Read more

Nuclear fusion experiment overcomes two key operating hurdles
Two important barriers to a stable, powerful fusion reaction have been leapt by an experiment in a small tokamak reactor, but we don’t yet know if the technique will work in larger devices ⌘ Read more

A new kind of experiment at the LHC could unravel quantum reality
The Large Hadron Collider is testing entanglement in a whole new energy range, probing the meaning of quantum theory – and the possibility that an even stranger reality lies beneath ⌘ Read more

Your diet may influence how effective vaccines are for you
Obese mice that lost weight on a low-fat diet before getting a flu shot had better immune responses than those that lost weight afterwards, suggesting diet and weight loss influence vaccine efficacy ⌘ Read more

Huge dinosaur footprints belonged to one of the largest raptors ever
A set of large, distinctive footprints suggest a raptor dinosaur that lived in East Asia 96 million years ago grew to a length of 5 metres ⌘ Read more

Exquisite fossils of Cretaceous shark solve mystery of how it hunted
Six full-body fossils of Ptychodus sharks have been formally analysed for the first time, revealing that they were fast swimmers that preyed on shelled creatures ⌘ Read more

Climate change could make it harder to detect submarines
Climate change’s effects on ocean water temperatures and salinity could shrink sonar detection ranges underwater and make it more challenging to spot submarines ⌘ Read more

Will Amazon’s robotic revolution spark a new wave of job losses?
Amazon says it will create new jobs to replace roles taken over by machines, but it isn’t clear whether this will happen quickly enough ⌘ Read more

How to get the right balance of omega-3s and omega-6s in your diet
The balance of omega fatty acids in the food we eat affects our health. But what does the evidence say about claims you should be seeking to reduce omega-6 intake as well as boosting omega-3s? ⌘ Read more

Ships smuggling Russian oil spotted in satellite images by AI
AI can analyse satellite images to reveal the movements of dark ships in a shadow fleet that smuggles oil and other cargo from sanctioned countries such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea ⌘ Read more

Should we tweak the atmosphere to counteract global warming?
With severe climate impacts becoming more and more apparent, many scientists think we should explore ways to block out solar radiation, but doing so would be risky ⌘ Read more

Glucose monitors may misclassify people as being at risk of diabetes
Our blood sugar levels vary a lot from day to day, so results from continuous glucose monitors need to be interpreted with caution ⌘ Read more

Has the US finally figured out how to do high-speed rail?
As work begins on building the US’s first high-speed rail service – linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas – analysts say the project could serve as a blueprint for similar projects across the country ⌘ Read more

The incredible new tech that can recycle all plastics, forever
“Advanced recycling” promises to convert dirty, mixed waste plastic into brand new plastic time and time again. It is a major step towards creating a circular economy and fighting climate change ⌘ Read more

Deliberate fires are responsible for half of the land burned each year
The finding that managed fires burn a much greater area than thought means we may be underestimating the increase in wildfires due to global heating ⌘ Read more

Drug residue can be detected in fingerprints left at crime scenes
Forensic investigators can reliably measure drug and explosive residue using gels that lift fingerprint samples ⌘ Read more

Geoengineering could save the ice sheets – but only if we start soon
Shading the planet by spraying aerosols into the stratosphere might stave off ice sheet collapse, modelling studies suggest, but we are running out of time ⌘ Read more

Nocturnal ants use polarised moonlight to find their way home
An Australian bull ant is the first animal known to use the patterns produced by polarised moonlight to navigate its environment ⌘ Read more

How cannabis gets you high and alters your perception
20 April is weed’s unofficial holiday. In honour of the special day, we collected our answers to all your cannabis questions. This is the science of 420 ⌘ Read more

Knot theory could help spacecraft navigate crowded solar systems
It can be difficult to figure out how to move a spacecraft from one orbit to another, but a trick from knot theory can help find spots where shifting orbits becomes easy ⌘ Read more

Animals may help ecosystems store 3 times more carbon than we thought
Carbon storage calculations don’t always take into account the effects of animals – when they eat, defecate and die, they help store lots of carbon ⌘ Read more

Songs that birds ‘sing’ in their dreams translated into sound
By measuring how birds’ vocal muscles move while they are asleep and using a physical model for how those muscles produce sound, researchers have pulled songs from the minds of sleeping birds ⌘ Read more

Your genes may influence how much you enjoy listening to music
Identical twins seem to experience more similar levels of pleasure when listening to music than non-identical twins, which suggests it has a genetic element ⌘ Read more

Wind turbines based on condor wings could capture more energy
Curved wing tips inspired by the world’s heaviest flying bird could enhance the efficiency of wind turbines by of 10 per cent, according to simulations ⌘ Read more

Early humans spread as far north as Siberia 400,000 years ago
A site in Siberia has evidence of human presence 417,000 years ago, raising the possibility that hominins could have reached North America much earlier than we thought ⌘ Read more

Autonomous e-scooters could ride themselves back to charging points
Teams of staff usually return e-scooters to where they will be needed, but adapted scooters that can balance and stop themselves, and be controlled remotely, are a step towards autonomous ones that can take themselves wherever they have to go ⌘ Read more

This cosy, charming puzzle game has you saving forgotten plants
Set in an English manor in 1890, Botany Manor is a video game that places you in the shoes of a botanist working on a herbarium of forgotten flora ⌘ Read more

Extreme heat in 2023 linked to drastic slump in growth of marine life
Last year’s marine heatwaves saw an unprecedented decline in the growth of phytoplankton and algae, which many animals in the oceans depend on for food ⌘ Read more

Cocaine seems to hijack brain pathways that prioritise food and water
Cocaine and morphine hijacked neural responses in the brains of mice, which resulted in them consuming less food and water ⌘ Read more

Fossil snake discovered in India may have been the largest ever
The vertebrae of Vasuki indicus, a snake that lived 47 million years ago, suggest it could have been as long as 15 metres ⌘ Read more

Jupiter’s moon Io has been a volcanic inferno for billions of years
Measurements of sulphur isotopes in Io’s atmosphere show that the moon may have been volcanically active for its entire lifetime ⌘ Read more