Science News

All the latest stories on newscientist.com, including: boring Higgs, power from whirlwinds, fiery ice fuel of the future, briny Europa, and more

An ancient collision with an incoming dwarf galaxy may have created the huge lobes of high-energy particles seen by NASA's Fermi satellite

A fuel tank based on the human intestine could help cars carry more natural gas

California is not yet finished producing the gold that made it wealthy and famous.

You are what you wear when your "fashion fingerprint" can be spotted and tagged in a crowd

If coffee good for you? Can it be dangerous? How is decaf made? Scientific answers to these questions and more.

Using computer science to improve how journalists gather news What's the future of journalism? It's pretty grim if you ask the writer Nate Thayer or pretty much anyone else working in digital media today. The technologic...

These animals are named for their large, curved horns.

Earth's temperature is warming faster now than at any time since the last ice age, according to a new analysis of past trends

If the first attempt to exploit frozen methane beneath Japan's seabed works, it could herald the next great energy source for the region – and maybe the world (full text available to subscribers)

This wheel-bound humanoid robot is just part of the furniture at the CeBIT technology conference in Hanover, Germany, this week

An important science question AND a cute cat video. Not that you need an additional reason to watch a cat video, but this clip of a cat looking at an optical illusion could be scientifically valuable, too. YouTube user r...

Canada's tar sand oil is far more polluting than the conventional kind, but the controversial Keystone pipeline is the cleanest way to get it to market

Periodically, Boston Dynamics releases video documenting its robotic protégé BigDog’s development. Prior BigDog hits include video of it walking, running, and toting heavy loads. We can now add to the list v...

Seems like every other week there’s a new plan to push humans a little farther into space. Last week, Dennis Tito—the world’s first space tourist—announced the formation of his foundation, Ins...

Trouble comes on the heels of the rover's recovery from a computer glitch. Just days after waking up from a self-imposed safe mode, the Mars rover Curiosity is getting some extra shuteye as it waits for a solar storm to ...

The discovery of the Higgs boson completed the most precise scientific model in history – and that's where the problems start, says Matthew Chalmers (full text available to subscribers)

If you could lick Europa, it would taste like earthly seawater, according to the best evidence yet that liquid can reach the moon's icy surface

A tweet from a CERN physicist suggests the one remaining quirk in the boson's behaviour may have all but vanished – and with it, clues to new physics

An exhibition of work by artists with conditions from Alzheimer’s to migraine doesn’t just educate – it helps us see the world through their eyes

Residents exposed to radiation from the Fukushima-Daiichi reactor are a little more likely to develop cancer, but the effect is far smaller than many feared

Whip up your own dust devil to drive a turbine and create green electricity by just relying on the sun's heat