Science News

A year ago today, Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech covid-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial. 12 months and billions of shots later, several countries are already on ...

Conscientiousness can be improved, even if a person has little motivation to change, researchers report.

Deficits in the dentate gyrus function that causes memory problems may be associated with epileptic seizures a new study reports. The abnormal activity leads to over-extinction, spurring on seizures.

In warm weather, zebra finches sing heat calls to their unborn offspring, and this programs the nestlings to produce less heat inside their cells

A newly developed self-assessment test of cognitive function can help detect early signs of dementia sooner than commonly used office-based cognitive tests.

When the perception of bodily self-consciousness is distorted, the recovery of body ownership can be predicted by different kinds of memories.

The newfound version, BA.2, may be slightly harder to track.

Living in sunny locations and spending time outdoors may raise the risk for skin cancer, but a new study shows that in children and young adults, sun exposure may protect against multiple sclerosis. The study follows pre...

Scientists have demonstrated that modifying an enzyme produced by the bacterium that causes anthrax can protect mice from infection with the deadly disease. Their findings suggest a potential therapeutic strategy for tre...

A new study shows that people who do vigorous physical activities, like jogging or playing competitive sports, in areas with higher air pollution may show less benefit from that exercise when it comes to certain markers ...

The remains of a man, possibly a slave, indicate that he was crucified in the third or fourth century A.D. in Roman England.

A "creative sweet spot" may exist in the brief moments you spend in a little-known early sleep stage, according to a new study.

Many people all over the world have now had one infection with covid-19 - how does that affect their future chance of a second round with the coronavirus?

A technique for interrupting the first stage of sleep helps people solve a maths problem - the same approach was used by Thomas Edison and Salvador Dali

The only total solar eclipse of 2021 was one few could see and this new photo from a spacecraft nearly 1 million miles from Earth shows why.

New Scientist's weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn't miss

Funding cuts are undermining the scientific enterprise, impoverishing our attempts to discover the secrets of nature and share them widely, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

This highly commended photograph in the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition might just haunt your dreams

We have been hearing warnings about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest for decades, but experts say a catastrophic tipping point is now just over the horizon. Are they right? And if so, what can we do to pull thing...

To explain the paradox of a smart species that embraces fake news, conspiracy theories and paranormal woo, we need to rethink rationality, says psychologist Steven Pinker

The pandemic has had surprising effects on cyberbullying that could tells us how to reduce the problem in the future, say Alexandra Martiniuk and Joseph Freeman

An invasion of microscopic aliens sets the scene for Encounter, a sci-fi film starring Riz Ahmed that feels a little like two films jammed together