Science News

A new potentially rocky exoplanet seems to be in its star's life-friendly zone, but it could also be a mini-Neptune or a ghost in the data

Earthquakes will always produce landslides, but new knowledge will help us deal with them better.

Five 007 threats adapted from history, from nuclear-powered missile jammers to anonymous computer hackers When Skyfall hits theaters on Friday November 9, it will be the cinematic franchise’s 50th year in producti...

Giganotosaurus was one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs.

From nuclear-powered missile jammers to anonymous computer hackers, five technological threats in 007's world and their twisted ties to real history

The legalisation of cannabis in two US states could affect both drug violence and public health. The one thing it may not affect is drug use

A vote and race visualisation reveals that Texas isn't the solid Republican lock of yesteryear – but both main US parties have reasons for optimism

All today's stories on newscientist.com, including: proof of a mathematical genius, laser scanners save archaeological treasures, US science, and more

The natural electrical potential of ear cells has been harnessed for the first time to power a radio transmitter

For the last few months, the political pundit class has been at war with NYT/FiveThirtyEight blogger Nate Silver.  Joe Scarborough of MSNBC called him a “joke,” while an op-ed in the LA Times accused him o...

Droplets of a new lab-made gel can propel themselves and may help untangle how swarms of living things create order from chaos

A prototype device that harvests energy from heartbeats shows promise to replace batteries in medical device implants, such as pacemakers, according to the BBC. In preliminary testing, the natural beating of the heart pr...

On November 4, Zac Vawter climbed 2,100 steps to the top of Chicago’s Willis Tower. Vawter made the climb on a prosthetic leg. Neither of these facts would be particularly notable but for one small item. Vawter co...

Combining an iPhone's sensors and Bluetooth can make changing bicycle gears manually a thing of the past

A giant supercomputer is making massively detailed models of the cosmos. Imagine being asked to solve a complex algebra problem that is roughly 95 percent variables and only five percent known values. This is a rough ana...

The 2012 Wellcome Trust Prize went to Thomas Wright for his biography of the physician who first understood the circulation of blood

Vandalism and natural disasters constantly historical sites – but they can live on in virtual models created by laser scanners and high-res photography (full text available to subscribers)

Immigration reform must be a top priority in light of the increasing influence that young Hispanics have on the future of the US

Plot-deconstructing software lets you make your own episodes of favourite shows

A complex new proof that the genius mathematician seemed to grasp intuitively may teach us about black holes

Linz/Geneva 8 November 2012. The second Prix[1] Ars Electronica[2] Collide@CERN[3] was today awarded to the 65-year-old American artist, Bill Fontana[4].

Reducing the federal deficit is the main worry for newly elected leaders in the US, but there are signs that science will make gains