New Scientist Space - Cosmology
Vindication for maths teachers: Pythagoras's theorem seen in the wild
For all the students wondering why they would ever need to use the Pythagorean theorem, Katie Steckles is delighted to report on a real-world encounter
Categories: Astronomy
These photos show how a warmer climate is damaging Earth's waters
Photographer Diane Tuft has documented how global warming is affecting bodies of water around the world
Categories: Astronomy
This one-room sci-fi thriller should take its MacGuffin more seriously
In Breathe, Earth is stripped of its oxygen, the plants are dead, oceans are dried up, no one trusts anyone — but we don't know what caused it. This sci-fi film fails to stand out among superior one-room thrillers, says Simon Ings
Categories: Astronomy
Why curbing chatbots' worst exploits is a game of whack-a-mole
AI companies are trying to impose safety measures on their chatbots, while researchers are finding ways around them all the time. Where will this end, asks Alex Wilkins
Categories: Astronomy
The next frontier of forensic science: blood splatter in microgravity?
Feedback is pleased to see that researchers are looking into the urgent issue of which angle blood might travel at following a violent act in space
Categories: Astronomy
Why we need to modernise our emotional relationship with cancer
Cancer has been one of the world's most feared diseases for decades. But this "cancerphobia" no longer matches the evidence and is doing great harm, argues David Ropeik
Categories: Astronomy
A radical new book sets out to hunt for 'pure consciousness'
Thomas Metzinger's The Elephant and the Blind explores deep meditation, which can take us to states where the sense of self vanishes, arguing that this may be crucial in cracking consciousness
Categories: Astronomy
Let's not trash recycling technologies that could end plastic waste
Some environmental campaigners claim that attempts to create a circular economy for plastics are doomed to fail – but the arguments can be disingenuous
Categories: Astronomy
Huge genetic study redraws the tree of life for flowering plants
Using genomic data from more than 9500 species, biologists have mapped the evolutionary relationships between flowering plants
Categories: Astronomy
Nuclear fusion experiment overcomes two key operating hurdles
Two important barriers to a stable, powerful fusion reaction have been leapt by an experiment in a small tokamak reactor, but we don’t yet know if the technique will work in larger devices
Categories: Astronomy
A new kind of experiment at the LHC could unravel quantum reality
The Large Hadron Collider is testing entanglement in a whole new energy range, probing the meaning of quantum theory – and the possibility that an even stranger reality lies beneath
Categories: Astronomy
Your diet may influence how effective vaccines are for you
Obese mice that lost weight on a low-fat diet before getting a flu shot had better immune responses than those that lost weight afterwards, suggesting diet and weight loss influence vaccine efficacy
Categories: Astronomy
Huge dinosaur footprints belonged to one of the largest raptors ever
A set of large, distinctive footprints suggest a raptor dinosaur that lived in East Asia 96 million years ago grew to a length of 5 metres
Categories: Astronomy
Exquisite fossils of Cretaceous shark solve mystery of how it hunted
Six full-body fossils of Ptychodus sharks have been formally analysed for the first time, revealing that they were fast swimmers that preyed on shelled creatures
Categories: Astronomy
Climate change could make it harder to detect submarines
Climate change’s effects on ocean water temperatures and salinity could shrink sonar detection ranges underwater and make it more challenging to spot submarines
Categories: Astronomy
Will Amazon's robotic revolution spark a new wave of job losses?
Amazon says it will create new jobs to replace roles taken over by machines, but it isn’t clear whether this will happen quickly enough
Categories: Astronomy
How to get the right balance of omega-3s and omega-6s in your diet
The balance of omega fatty acids in the food we eat affects our health. But what does the evidence say about claims you should be seeking to reduce omega-6 intake as well as boosting omega-3s?
Categories: Astronomy
Ships smuggling Russian oil spotted in satellite images by AI
AI can analyse satellite images to reveal the movements of dark ships in a shadow fleet that smuggles oil and other cargo from sanctioned countries such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea
Categories: Astronomy
Should we tweak the atmosphere to counteract global warming?
With severe climate impacts becoming more and more apparent, many scientists think we should explore ways to block out solar radiation, but doing so would be risky
Categories: Astronomy
Glucose monitors may misclassify people as being at risk of diabetes
Our blood sugar levels vary a lot from day to day, so results from continuous glucose monitors need to be interpreted with caution
Categories: Astronomy