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A tiny hand crafted out of DNA has jointed fingers that can be used to grab small objects like gold nanoparticles or viruses

A strange canine was spotted in a pack of wolves near Pune in western India, but it stood out for its lighter coat and dog-like facial features. It was confirmed to be a wolf-dog hybrid through genetic sequencing

An experiment with a sticky fly trap in a Canadian forest suggests you will get more deer fly bites if you walk around than if you sit still

A river near Edinburgh, UK, has served for more than a decade as a natural laboratory for studying flood defences, providing benefits such as improved water quality worth millions of pounds

Nude photos, bank details and stolen credit card numbers have been found on devices sold by US police forces via auction sites

A pathway between the brain and the immune system discovered in mice could explain why prolonged stress can exacerbate inflammatory bowel disease

The brain implant company Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk among others, previously tested implants in pigs and monkeys. Now it has approval for human trials

The US actors’ union will negotiate with Hollywood studios over the rights to use AI to create "digital twins" of actors, and the results could determine the viability of acting as a career

People with a rare condition experienced fewer or no complications after receiving an experimental mRNA therapy, with the technology having the potential to treat a range of disorders

A trick for asking questions using capital letters seems to baffle artificial intelligences like ChatGPT, while humans can easily give the right answer

Sunlight transmitted through an optical fibre could be used to help cool a single charged atom to a temperature only a few millionths of a degree above absolute zero

Trichodesmium, a kind of cyanobacterium that is vital to ocean ecosystems, forms colonies that work together and change shape to get the light and nutrients the microbe needs to grow

A coded message has been sent from a spacecraft orbiting Mars to simulate potential communication from an advanced alien civilisation

Around half of all wetlands in the contiguous US will now lose their protections under the Clean Water Act, exposing them to pollution and development

Thousands more species are probably waiting to be discovered in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a region of the Pacific Ocean where companies are planning to extract valuable metals

Molecular imaging shows that botulinum neurotoxin uses three receptors to enter neurons. The finding could help develop drugs to stop the toxin from infecting cells

A group of unregulated polluting gases known as very short-lived substances are partly responsible for depleting the ozone layer in the tropics

Focused ultrasound waves targeting a certain area of the brain can lower body temperature in rodents, showing a possible way to put people in suspended animation

Justin Cronin's new science fiction novel transmutes the familiar trope of a utopia with a dark secret into a deep story with humanity at its centre. Read along with us at New Scientist's book club

This tantalising extract is taken from the prologue of The Ferryman by Justin Cronin, a science fiction novel which is the first pick for New Scientist's book club