New Scientist Space - Space Headlines

Botanist James Wong is constantly asked if he plays music to his army of plants. Time to put this notion to the test...

Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe's album Liminal is being transmitted into space by Nobel laureate Robert Wilson. They give Chelsea Whyte the lowdown

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

Mary Roach's new book Replaceable You explores what we do when bits of our bodies break down or need switching out. It makes for a brilliant read – just beware the gory details, warns Carissa Wong

In the latest in our imagined history of inventions yet to come, Future Chronicles columnist Rowan Hooper reveals how an ingenious way to avoid being swamped by AI content was invented in the late 2020s

Sport utility vehicles and other larger cars are becoming more and more common, and this is dangerous for our health in many ways. But we have ways to counter "carspreading", says Anthony Laverty

Feedback is delighted to discover that two academics have taken a scholarly interest in dad jokes, but is unsurprised by their key finding: the people who most enjoy dad jokes are dads

Attempts to describe quantum physics are rarely enjoyable, but Paul Davies' zeal in Quantum 2.0 sometimes steers too close to hype, finds Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Matter with “forbidden” symmetries was once thought to be confined to lab experiments, but is now being found in some of the world’s most extreme environments

Google’s latest model reportedly beats its rivals in several benchmark tests, but issues with reliability mean concerns remain over a possible AI bubble

To make quantum computers more efficient and reliable, some of their basic components must be constantly reused – several quantum computer designs can now do just that

An experiment 180 years ago first demonstrated a connection between light and electromagnetism – but the link is deeper than we thought

An experiment 180 years ago first demonstrated a connection between light and electromagnetism – but the link is deeper than we thought

Rather than being a recent cultural development, kissing may have been practised by other early humans like Neanderthals and our ape ancestors

A comprehensive UN report has found that cities and towns are home to 81 per cent of the world’s population, much more than previously thought

Ancient rock art was meant to be heard as well as seen and now acoustic archaeologists are bringing the sounds of prehistoric rituals to life

AlphaEvolve, an AI system created by Google DeepMind, is helping mathematicians do research at a scale that was previously impossible - even if it does occasionally "cheat" to find a solution

Facing its worst drought in decades, Iran is attempting to stimulate rain by spreading seeding agents in clouds, but the technique is likely to have modest benefits at best

A major settlement in Central Asia called Semiyarka dating back to 1600 BC had houses, a big central building and even an industrial zone for producing copper and bronze

A 12,000-year-old clay sculpture found in Israel depicts a goose on the back of a woman, and archaeologists suggest it may be a depiction of an animistic mythological scene