Science News

Researchers have developed a chemical structure for an artificial muscle that can lift up to 4,000 times its weight, and they say it could be used in future humanoid robots.

People who receive stem cell therapy within a week of their first heart attack have nearly a 60 per cent lower risk of developing heart failure years later

Flatworms can rebuild themselves from just a small fragment, and now scientists know why. Their stem cells ignore nearby instructions and respond to long-distance signals from other tissues. This discovery turns old stem...

Scientists have spotted elusive "magnetic waves" in the sun's atmosphere that may explain why the sun's corona is much hotter than its surface.

Scientists have developed a portable biosensor that can detect levels of BDNF, a protein linked to mental health conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. The flexible, low-cost device analyzes ...

A new study reveals that chemotherapy-induced nerve pain arises from a stress response in immune cells that triggers inflammation and neurotoxicity. Researchers found that activating a cellular stress sensor called IRE1 ...

Archaeologists have recovered three unusual burials of Celtic women and girls who may have been sacrificed in England.

Teeth and bones may appear alike, but they actually have more differences than similarities.

One of the Milky Ways smallest galactic neighbours seems to have a supermassive black hole at its centre, upending assumptions that it was dominated by dark matter

Researchers have shown for the first time that flipping an epigenetic switch in specific memory-holding neurons can directly alter memory strength. By targeting the gene Arc-which helps neurons adjust their connections-s...

A groundbreaking study reveals how neurons sense and transmit mechanical forces across their membranes-a key to understanding touch, movement, and development. Using precision laser-based optical tweezers, researchers di...

Photographer Tim Flach's new book Feline explores the mysterious and irresistible world of cats, from the domesticated to the wild, and why we love them

Ochre artefacts found in Crimea show signs of having been used for drawing, adding to evidence that Neanderthals used pigments in symbolic ways

Feedback comes across a YouTuber's efforts to build a large language model in Minecraft and is impressed at the scale of it - even if it doesn't quite live up to its promise to blow your mind "in spectacular ...

COP's negotiations this month will focus on money for climate change adaptation. While more money is essential, even a big increase won't be enough on its own and we need to face up to this, warns Susannah Fisher...

The US government's decision to stop supporting a telescope facility that would have given us unprecedented insight into the early universe is calamitous, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Enshittification is a term coined by Cory Doctorow in 2022. In his new book, Doctorow lays out how tech companies have made our lives progressively worse, finds Matthew Sparkes

Can sea slugs form abstract thoughts? Do we dare to see any "purpose" in evolution? Is the subjective just a complicated form of the objective? Nikolay Kukushkin's One Hand Clapping is a bold voyage around th...

The internet is not what it once was, with so many apps and websites mere shadows of themselves. Thankfully, the inventor of the web Tim Berners-Lee, has a fix that we should adopt

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

New research reveals how tiny electrical gates in the brain, known as NMDA receptors, control learning, memory, and neuron survival. Using cryo-electron microscopy, scientists captured atomic-level images showing how a n...

New research shows that during moments of lost focus after poor sleep, the brain releases a wave of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-the same cleansing process that normally occurs during deep sleep. Using simultaneous EEG and ...