new.scientist

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 […]

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

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 […]

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

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

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, […]

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

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

Both a special diet that excludes “FODMAP” compounds and a low-carb high-fibre diet were effective

Cocaine and morphine hijacked neural responses in the brains of mice, which resulted in them consuming less food and water

The vertebrae of Vasuki indicus, a snake that lived 47 million years ago, suggest it could have been as long as 15 metres

Measurements of sulphur isotopes in Io’s atmosphere show that the moon may have been volcanically active for its entire lifetime

Cryptographers are scrambling to understand an algorithm that could undermine the mathematics behind next-generation encryption methods, which are intended to […]

In the foundations of a Maya temple, researchers found the charred bones of royal individuals – possibly evidence of a fiery ritual to mark the end of one […]

Cloud seeding almost certainly did not play a significant role in the flooding on the Arabian peninsula this week – but the heavy rains may have been […]

The jawbone of an ichthyosaur uncovered in south-west England has been identified as a new species, and researchers estimate that the whole animal was 20 to 25 […]

Feedback pores over new research that suggests "robot-human boxing" would reduce brain injuries by reducing the number of live opponents involved

Artist Matthew Attard turned to eye-tracking technology to generate a fresh take on images of ships carved by seafarers on chapels in Malta hundreds of years […]

Caused by debris from a comet thought to originate in the Oort Cloud, the Lyrid meteor shower peaks this year on 22 April and is best viewed from the northern […]

Can you see through deceiving data and beguiling stories? Read Alex Edmans's new book and take his card test to find out

Negative thinking is unpopular but it could drive more realistic efforts to limit harm from global warming

We know there is some connection between skin and gut health, but many assumed the gut was the one calling the shots. A new study suggests that the influence […]

Weeding robots can sometimes struggle to tell weeds from crops, but genetically modifying the plants we want to keep to make them brightly coloured would make […]

A computer intended to mimic the way the brain processes and stores data could potentially improve the efficiency and capabilities of artificial intelligence […]

Investigations of the paradoxical link between tinnitus and hearing loss have revealed a hidden form of deafness, paving the way to possible new treatments