Can You Slow Ageing with Your Diet? A New Book Gives It a Go
Freelance health journalist David Cox discovered his biological age was older than his chronological age and turned that shock into a mission to reverse it. In his new book, *The Age Code*, he chronicles how specific dietary changes can lower biological age, drawing on the latest geroscience research. Cox details personal experiments, biomarker testing, and a structured eating plan aimed at reducing cellular damage. The book positions nutrition as a practical lever for extending healthspan, not just lifespan.
How Many Dachshunds Would It Take to Get to the Moon?
The New Scientist Feedback column highlighted the New York Times' tongue‑in‑cheek use of 22‑inch dachshunds to convey Artemis II’s 406,771 km lunar distance, estimating roughly 728 million dogs would be required. It also noted a separate study where a large‑language‑model classifier achieved 96%...
Why Your Opinion of Used Electric Vehicles Is Probably Wrong
A new report shows that well‑maintained EV batteries often outlive the cars they power, challenging the belief that they degrade quickly. This finding makes used electric vehicles a more attractive purchase, especially as new EVs in the UK have become...
This Mesmerising Cornish Time-Travel Film Is Not to Be Missed
Mark Jenkin’s new film “Rose of Nevada” opens in UK cinemas and will debut in the United States on June 19, 2026. The plot follows a Cornish fishing village haunted by the disappearance of the boat Rose of Nevada thirty...
We Need More Radioactive Drugs. Can We Make Them From Nuclear Waste?
A new wave of radiopharmaceutical cancer treatments is driving unprecedented demand for radioisotopes, prompting companies to extract them from legacy nuclear waste. Researchers at the UK National Nuclear Laboratory are refining radioactive lead from stored waste, while firms like Belgium’s...
Exercise Advice for Long Covid May Be Doing More Harm than Good
Long‑COVID sufferers have been urged to adopt exercise regimens as a low‑cost, drug‑free remedy, but emerging critiques suggest the evidence base is weak. Recent analyses highlight that many studies lack proper controls, small sample sizes, and fail to account for...
Fermat's Last Theorem: Still a Must-Read About a 350-Year Maths Secret
Simon Singh’s 1997 popular‑science book *Fermat’s Last Theorem* remains a seminal guide to mathematical proof, chronicling the 350‑year quest that culminated in Andrew Wiles’s 1994 proof. The work blends rigorous explanation of the theorem with the human drama of its...
The Monstrous Number Sequences that Break the Rules of Mathematics
Researchers have identified number sequences that grow far faster than traditional exponential functions, eclipsing the legendary chess‑board rice example in just a few steps. By alternating multiplication and addition in specific patterns, these hyper‑accelerating processes generate values that breach long‑standing...
Game Theory Explains Why the US's Goals in Iran Keep Changing
The standoff in the Strait of Hormuz is being framed as a war of attrition, where endurance outweighs firepower. Iran’s cheap drones and abundant missile stockpiles let it absorb losses longer, while the United States must sustain costly naval deployments...
Electric Vehicle Owners Could Earn Thousands by Supporting Power Grid
A pilot program in Delaware demonstrates that electric‑vehicle owners can earn several thousand dollars a year by letting their parked cars act as a collective battery for the grid. As renewable generation now accounts for roughly 90% of new capacity,...
Why Is It so Hard to Change Your Mind?
Changing one’s mind is notoriously hard, a trait psychologists link to confirmation bias and social‑media echo chambers. New research highlighted by columnist David Robson shows that mental rigidity not only fuels political polarization but also hampers business decision‑making. However, the...
The Rise, the Fall and the Rebound of Cyclic Cosmology
Cyclic cosmology, the big‑bounce theory that the universe contracts before rebounding, is experiencing a notable resurgence after years of marginalization. Early enthusiasm in the 2000s faded as data favored inflation, but fresh quantum‑gravity calculations have revived interest. Researchers now argue...
Monkeys Walk Around a Virtual World Using only Their Thoughts
Researchers at KU Leuven implanted three rhesus macaques with 288 micro‑electrodes across primary motor, dorsal premotor and ventral premotor cortices. An AI model decoded the neural activity, allowing the monkeys to steer avatars through a series of 3D virtual environments...
New Scientist Recommends Jamie Bartlett's Insightful How to Talk to AI
New Scientist’s weekly staff picks spotlight Jamie Bartlett’s new book, *How to Talk to AI*. The guide argues that most users lack formal training in prompting chatbots, leading to misinformation and emotional reliance. Bartlett emphasizes self‑awareness of one’s biases and...
Neanderthal Infants Were Enormous Compared with Modern Humans
A new study of the near‑complete Neanderthal infant skeleton Amud 7, dated 51,000‑56,000 years ago, shows the baby’s bone length and brain size correspond to a modern child aged 12‑14 months despite a dental age of about six months. The researchers found the...
Are Neanderthals Descendants of Modern Humans?
Columnist Michael Marshall proposes a controversial hypothesis that Neanderthals may have originated from anatomically modern humans, turning the traditional view of them as a separate branch upside down. The theory highlights a persistent gap between genetic data, which shows limited...
How Autoimmune Conditions Can Unexpectedly Drive Mental Illness
Researchers have uncovered that antibodies mistakenly attacking the brain can trigger a range of mental health disorders, from schizophrenia and obsessive‑compulsive disorder to dementia. The phenomenon, first highlighted in cases of autoimmune encephalitis, blurs the line between neurological and psychiatric...
Quantum Computers Could Usher in a Crisis Worse than Y2K
Quantum researchers warn that a functional, large‑scale quantum computer capable of breaking RSA and ECC encryption – dubbed Q‑Day – may emerge within the next decade. The threat mirrors the Y2K panic, but the underlying cryptographic foundations are far more...
From Autism to Migraines, Birth Order May Have Wide-Reaching Effects
A new epidemiological study of more than 10 million siblings links birth order to a wide range of health outcomes. Firstborn children are statistically more likely to be diagnosed with autism, anxiety and allergic conditions, while their younger siblings face higher...
A Key Solution to Climate Change Isn't Happening – and That's Good
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), once hailed as a cornerstone of net‑zero strategies, is now deemed unviable. The flagship Drax‑linked project is unlikely to proceed due to prohibitive costs, massive land‑use demands, and evidence that it can increase...
Modern Living May Be Causing Big Changes to Our Oestrogen Levels
A new study led by Rebecca Brittain compared the gut "oestrobolome" of hundreds of people from 24 global populations. It found that industrialised societies harbor up to seven times more estrogen‑recycling bacteria and twice the enzyme diversity of hunter‑gatherers and...
We’ve Caught a Comet Switching Its Spin Direction for the First Time
Astronomers have recorded the first confirmed reversal of a comet’s spin direction in comet 41P/Tuttle‑Giacobini‑Kresák during its 2026 approach to the Sun. The kilometer‑wide body, which orbits the Sun every 5.4 years, switched from prograde to retrograde rotation as powerful outgassing jets...
The Man Who Crawls Into the Perilous Heart of the Chernobyl Reactor
Anatoly Doroshenko, a young scientist at Ukraine's Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants, regularly crawls into the shattered remains of Chernobyl’s Reactor 4 to record radiation levels. He can get as close as eight metres to the molten core...
NASA’s Artemis II Mission Was a Historic Success
NASA’s Artemis II mission returned safely on 10 April after a historic crewed flyby of the Moon, the first human trip beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Orion capsule traveled to a record‑breaking 406,771 km from Earth, surpassing Apollo 13’s distance...
Hidden Fossils Reveal Secrets of Oceans Before Major Mass Extinction
A half‑grain‑size rock pellet from China’s Sichuan basin yielded 20 microscopic fossils representing eight species, including a previously unknown radiolarian with elongated spines. The 445‑million‑year‑old sample dates to just before the Late Ordovician mass extinction, the second‑largest extinction event in...
The Secret Project to Settle Controversial Maths Proof with a Computer
A secretive team of mathematicians has been running a computer‑based effort for more than two years to verify Shinichi Mochizuki’s controversial 500‑page proof of the ABC conjecture. Simultaneously, a second independent project has launched, aiming to use automated reasoning to assess...
The Man Who Ruined Mathematics
Kurt Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, first published in 1931, shocked the mathematical community by proving that any sufficiently powerful formal system cannot be both complete and consistent. The result directly contradicted the Hilbert program’s ambition to ground all of mathematics in...
Sci-Fi Show The Miniature Wife Underwhelms – Despite the Big Names
The Miniature Wife, a ten‑episode Peacock limited series starring Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen, adapts Manuel Gonzales’s 2014 short story about a scientist’s shrinking compound. While the premise taps into a long‑standing sci‑fi trope of miniature characters, critics argue the show’s pacing...
Mysterious 'Compound X' Clears Toxic Parkinson’s Proteins From Brain
Researchers at Swinburne University disclosed that an undisclosed molecule, dubbed compound X, eliminated toxic protein clumps linked to Parkinson's disease in mice. The treatment activated the brain's glymphatic waste‑clearance system, resulting in measurable gains in balance and overall mobility. While the...
Quantum Entanglement Can Be Measured in Solids for the First Time
Physicists have reported the first direct measurement of quantum entanglement within a solid material, using advanced neutron‑scattering techniques. The breakthrough demonstrates that spin correlations in a crystal lattice can be quantified without relying on indirect Bell‑test protocols. Researchers say the...
Disappearing Megafauna May Have Prompted a Stone Tool Revolution
A new study links the abrupt decline of megaherbivores in the Middle East around 200,000 years ago to a rapid transition from heavy stone axes and cleavers to lighter, more versatile toolkits. Researchers argue that the loss of large prey...
The Invisibility Cloak Inventor Now Has Better Tricks up His Sleeve
John Pendry, the physicist who unveiled the first practical invisibility cloak two decades ago, has shifted his focus to a new class of metamaterials that can bend light through time as well as space. These advanced structures emulate exotic phenomena...
Particles Seen Emerging From Empty Space for First Time
Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory's RHIC have detected a rare pair of short‑lived particles produced in high‑energy proton collisions, offering the strongest experimental evidence to date that mass can emerge from vacuum fluctuations. The observation supports quantum chromodynamics' view that...
Why The Double Helix Is Such an Extraordinary but Infuriating Book
James Watson’s 1968 memoir *The Double Helix* is hailed as a landmark in science writing, turning the discovery of DNA into a vivid personal adventure. Its narrative style sparked a new genre of scientific memoirs and motivated countless students to...
How a Century-Long Argument over Light’s True Nature Came to an End
The century‑long Einstein‑Bohr dispute over whether light is a wave or a particle has finally been resolved: modern quantum theory treats light as inherently dual, exhibiting both wave‑like and particle‑like behavior. Historical milestones such as the Davisson‑Germer electron diffraction experiment...
I Don’t See Images in My Head. Can Training Give Me a Mind’s Eye?
A growing number of people with aphantasia—an inability to generate mental images—are joining online groups and enrolling in experimental training programs to improve their mind's eye. Researchers note that if visual imagery can be enhanced, it would suggest aphantasia is...
Are Manure Digesters a Real Solution to Dairy Farm Emissions?
Governments are subsidizing anaerobic digesters that turn cow manure into biogas, a technology that can slash methane emissions from dairy operations by up to 70%. Proponents argue the systems are among the most effective livestock‑focused climate tools, while critics warn...
We're Solving the Fundamental Mystery of How Reality Is Glued Together
Physicists and mathematicians have introduced novel mathematical frameworks that finally tackle the long‑standing confinement problem of the strong nuclear force, the glue that holds atomic nuclei together. By merging advanced topology with quantum field theory, the new tools resolve inconsistencies...
Novel Approach to Clearing Brain Waste Shows Promise for Alzheimer's
Researchers have identified a novel method to boost the brain’s waste‑disposal system by targeting the DDR2 receptor, a protein previously studied for lung health. In mouse models, blocking DDR2 lowered amyloid‑beta production and enhanced clearance of toxic protein aggregates, leading...
We May Have Seen a 'Dirty Fireball' Star Explosion for the First Time
Astronomers have identified what appears to be a “dirty fireball,” a rare type of stellar explosion, marking the first observation of this phenomenon. The event was detected as a gamma‑ray burst with an unusually dense surrounding medium, suggesting a black‑hole‑driven...
How Worried Should You Be About an AI Apocalypse?
The article questions whether the public should fear an AI‑driven apocalypse, noting that super‑intelligent systems remain a speculative concept. It contrasts AI risk with climate change, emphasizing that AI threats are harder to measure due to limited data. While science‑fiction...
Multipurpose Anti-Viral Pill May Treat Colds, Norovirus, Flu and Covid
Artificial intelligence flagged a long‑neglected breast‑cancer medication as a candidate to block multiple viruses, and subsequent animal studies confirmed it can inhibit coronaviruses, RSV, norovirus, influenza and hepatitis viruses. Model Medicines, a California biotech, is advancing the compound toward a...
How a DIY Worm Farm Can Compost Food Scraps, Paper or a Whole Kangaroo
James Woodford demonstrates that worm composting works at any scale, from a modest bin on his Sydney balcony to a dumpster‑sized farm system capable of processing food scraps, paper and even whole animal carcasses such as a kangaroo. His DIY...
Unprecedented Insight Into Memory Champion's Brain Reveals His Tricks
Nelson Dellis, a six‑time U.S. memory champion, has been scanned with high‑resolution neuroimaging, revealing the brain structures that power his method‑of‑loci technique. The scans show heightened activity in the hippocampus and posterior parietal cortex, regions linked to spatial navigation and...
Tobacco Plant Altered to Produce Five Psychedelic Drugs
Scientists at Israel's Weizmann Institute have engineered tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) to produce five psychedelic compounds—including psilocin, psilocybin, DMT, bufotenin and 5‑methoxy‑DMT—using agroinfiltration, a transient gene‑delivery method that does not integrate DNA into the plant genome. The approach leverages nine introduced...
The First Quantum Computer to Break Encryption Is Now Shockingly Close
Two independent studies reveal that a quantum computer capable of cracking the elliptic‑curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP) – the backbone of most internet encryption – is nearer than previously believed. The analyses suggest the world’s largest quantum processor is already...
Oceans Are Darkening All over the Planet – What’s Going On?
Marine scientists have identified that roughly one‑fifth of the world’s oceans are becoming increasingly opaque, a trend dubbed "ocean darkening." Analysis of two decades of satellite imagery revealed large, contiguous regions where surface waters let in less sunlight. The phenomenon...
Male Octopuses Have a Favourite Arm that They Mostly Use for Sex
Researchers at Nagasaki University have identified the third right arm of male octopuses as a specialised hectocotylus used exclusively for sperm transfer. The study observed that males fiercely protect this arm, pulling it back when touched and avoiding predators that...
The Best New Science-Fiction Books of April 2026
April 2026 brings a diverse slate of new science‑fiction titles, from Charlotte Robinson’s near‑future thriller *Mars One* to S.A. Barnes’s space‑horror *Dead Silence*. Award‑winning collections such as Samantha Mills’s *Rabbit Test and Other Stories* and the *Wild Cards* anthology edited by George R.R. Martin...
A Once-Fantastical Collider Could Answer Physics’ Biggest Mysteries
Physicists are rallying behind a muon collider as the next big step after the Large Hadron Collider, arguing that muon collisions could reach energies unattainable with protons. Although muons decay in microseconds, recent breakthroughs in rapid acceleration and beam cooling...