New Scientist Space - Cosmology

Cave-dwelling orb spiders have adapted their webs so they act as tripwires for prey that crawl on the walls of the caves

By studying the brains of autistic girls, we now know the condition presents differently in them than in boys, suggesting that huge numbers of women have gone undiagnosed

An eavesdropper hiding inside a black hole could still obtain information about quantum objects on its outside, a finding that reveals how effectively black holes destroy the quantum states near their event horizons

Paranthropus was an ape-like hominin that survived alongside early humans for more than a million years. A fossilised leg belonging to a strikingly small member of the group raises questions about how it did so

The rate at which the planet is warming has sped up since 2010, and now researchers say that China's efforts to clean up air pollution are inadvertently responsible for the majority of this extra warming

Taking aspirin was first linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer in 1988, but the research into its anti-tumour potential has been full of twists and turns since then

Since the second world war, US economic prosperity and major technological developments have hinged upon the government’s commitment to funding scientific research. The Trump administration is ending that

The US has confirmed more than 480 measles cases across 19 states, the highest total since an outbreak in 2019 sickened more than 1200 people

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe asteroid 2024 YR4, which earlier this year seemed to be at risk of hitting Earth in 2032. Earth is now safe, but astronomers are cheering on a possible collision with the moon

The long-standing question of how animals came to have an anus may have been solved by studies of which genes are active during development in various animals

Some researchers propose that countries should start to rack up a carbon debt once they exceed their carbon budget, obliging them to do more to draw down carbon dioxide, but the idea is unlikely to form part of international climate agreements

When researchers asked people to work on a computer with their phones 1.5 metres away, the amount of time they spent on their phone went down – but they just scrolled social media on their laptop instead

Red specks in the early universe are puzzling astronomers, but a proposed explanation suggests they are the progenitors of supermassive black holes

Photosynthesising microbes in soil may increase their activity as temperatures rise, offsetting some of the carbon emissions expected to be released from peatland and permafrost

After nearly 36 years of searching, astronomers have finally confirmed Neptune has auroras, thanks to data from the James Webb Space Telescope

A quantum algorithm for solving mathematical problems related to knots could give us the first example of a quantum computer tackling a genuinely useful problem that would otherwise be impossible for a classical computer

The rise of large language models like ChatGPT that can churn out computer code has led to a new term - vibe coding - for people who create software by asking AI to do it for them

Bizarre parasitic wasps preserved in amber about 99 million years ago had trap-like abdomens that they may have used to immobilise other insects

An "unprecedented view" of how the body changes during and after pregnancy has revealed many long-lasting impacts on the liver, kidneys and more

Low-intensity steady-state cardio has been touted as a way to lose weight and put less strain on your body while exercising. Science of exercise columnist Grace Wade looks into whether it works