New Scientist Space - Space Headlines

SpaceX is gearing up for the fifth launch of its massive Starship rocket, following four increasingly successful tests. What is the company hoping for, and what can we expect?

Between 2005 and 2021, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were more likely to make policy changes in the weeks after negative stories in the media

A mission to the sun’s closest neighbouring star, Alpha Centauri, could be made faster thanks to a tiny light sail punctured with billions of tiny holes

Astrophysicists aren’t sure how supermassive black holes get close enough to merge, a mystery called the final parsec problem – but an exotic form of dark matter may explain it

Electromagnetic radiation leaking from the cable between your computer and monitor can be intercepted and decoded by AI to reveal what you are looking at

The largest tree nursery in North America is helping scale up efforts to inoculate seedlings with native fungi and other soil microbes, a treatment that helps trees grow faster and capture more carbon

A robot can hold a squash, pumpkin or melon in one hand, while it is peeled by the other

Biodegradable plastic that gets broken down into microplastics may decrease soil nitrogen levels more than conventional ones, which stunts plant growth

The Perseverance rover has found some of the most promising hints of ancient Martian life yet, but we can’t know for sure until its samples are sent back to Earth

Mouse pups have increased activity in certain neurons in the centre of their brains when they interact with their mothers, which is linked to them showing fewer signs of distress

The gamma ray burst known as GRB221009A is the biggest explosion astronomers have ever glimpsed and we might finally know what caused the blast

Being immunised against shingles has been linked to a reduced dementia risk before and now a study suggests that the newer vaccine wards off the condition more effectively than an older one

AlphaProof, an AI from Google DeepMind, came close to matching the top participants in a prestigious competition for young mathematicians

Muscle cells that spent a week on the International Space Station revealed changes in gene expression that suggest microgravity can speed up ageing

Forests and other land ecosystems emitted almost as much carbon dioxide as they absorbed in 2023 – if this persists it will be much harder to restrict global warming to agreed targets

It is becoming clear that any amount of alcohol is harmful, so why do so many studies claim that moderate drinking could help you live longer?

Ancient Egyptians may have relied on a vertical shaft that could be filled with water, along with a network of water channels and filtration structures, to build the Step Pyramid of Djoser 4500 years ago

Elephant-like species started going extinct faster when early humans evolved, and the rate of extinction rose even higher when modern humans appeared

By analysing lunar samples from NASA's Apollo missions, researchers calculated exactly when – and why – the moon was once covered with magma

Amazing images of an open-air library, underground lab and design museum show the reincarnation of dead mines, captured in a new book, 102 Things to Do With a Hole in the Ground