Astronomy

As Chris Packham gears up for his new TV show, Evolution, he tells Penny Sarchet why understanding the latest evolutionary science is so important if we are to truly appreciate the natural world - and how he would happily die at the hands of a Tyrannosaurus rex

Longer-lasting hot spells and high temperatures at night are making it harder to cope, leading to thousands more deaths from extreme heat

We used to think post-menopausal ovaries sat inert in the body, but evidence from mice suggests they may instead turn into an organ with a role in inflammation

A series of experiments shows that bees respond differently to tastes depending on their internal states, hinting that they have something akin to our emotions

A cave on the Turkish Mediterranean coast was inhabited first by Neanderthals and then Homo sapiens, but the continuity of tools and personal objects suggests there was some sharing of culture between the two species

In our efforts to keep our brains healthy, how do we know what is working? Helen Thomson explores a new generation of tests that can reveal whether our efforts are paying off

How much sunscreen should you be using, when should you apply it, and are there any downsides to doing so? Skin cancer expert Rachel Neale is here to answer all of these questions and more

A TED talk and then a film, William Kamkwamba’s story of how he worked to provide his rural Malawian village with electricity has now been turned into a musical – and it mostly works, says Bethan Ackerley

The fate of the Atlantic Ocean current that keeps Europe’s climate warm depends on our carbon emissions and the rate of ice melt from Greenland, but there is a chance that a shutdown is already inevitable

Our brains are large compared with other animals, so it is tempting to assume there was an evolutionary advantage to them – but that may not be true at all

Some marathon runners and other athletes swear by beetroot juice shots, but is there evidence they really do anything for our bodies? Columnist Alice Klein investigates

AI companies are hiring philosophy graduates to help them understand the nature of consciousness, whether it can be replicated and how their systems can be made better and more reliable

An experiment that involved feeding a dead goat to a Komodo dragon as well as an analysis of thousands of ancient bones suggests that Homo floresiensis was neither a skilled hunter of big game nor a master of fire

Earth was once covered by a global magma ocean, which later cooled and crystallised – now traces of this primordial event have been found in magma from a young volcano in the Indian Ocean

NASA’s Swift space telescope is reaching the end of its two-decade run in orbit – unless a satellite launched on 3 July can give it a lifesaving boost

Female orangutans are generally solitary, but they travel more and eat less in an apparent effort to ensure their offspring have someone to play with

Natalya Saprunova's photo series exploring coastal erosion and permafrost thaw across Inuvialuit territories in Canada has won the New Scientist Editors Award at the Earth Photo 2026 competition

It will be some months before the true toll of Europe's worst-ever heatwave is confirmed, but researchers can estimate a death count based on how many people died in Europe during previous hot periods

The question of how gravity interacts with the quantum world has long perplexed physicists, but a non-quantum theory of space-time could present an answer

What makes something alive? We simply don't know, but synthetic biologists are a step closer to providing an answer thanks to SpudCell, the most sophisticated attempt at creating an artificial life form yet