New Scientist Space - Space Headlines

We may be a step closer to a highly effective mRNA vaccine against HIV, but tests so far reveal that the approach can cause unpleasant skin reactions

Inspired by the work of Victorian mathematician Mary Everest Boole, try making a symmetric curve using string and some hole-punched card, says Peter Rowlett

Alex Garland's tech company mystery is smart and compelling, though it can also be chilly and self-indulgent. Bethan Ackerley missed it in 2020, but after five strange years, she has decided to check it out

Marine biologist Helen Scales's latest book, Ocean Art: From the shore to the deep, celebrates humans' enduring obsession with creatures that live beneath the waves

Saving the planet means factoring nature into our economics, argues Partha Dasgupta, in a book with fascinating ideas. But does it take passion to make people listen?

In this latest instalment of Future Chronicles, an imagined history of future inventions, Rowan Hooper reveals how invisibility cloaks could become mainstream

Feedback foresees a dystopian future in which "smart jewellery" tracks the emotions and motions of its users

The unpredictability of our times isn't all bad, as it may help us think up some genuine new ideas, says Daniel Yon, author of A Trick of the Mind

A fantastic alien adventure can be found on our very own planet by studying the microbial life in Earth's crust, according to Karen G. Lloyd's new book Intraterrestrials

New tests to gauge an individual's circadian rhythms could be put to good use helping night workers fend off the ill effects of their unsocial hours

Astonishing new archaeological finds and ancient DNA analysis leave no doubt that throughout prehistory women were rulers, warriors, hunters and shamans

Creatures that lurk more than 9000 metres deep in the Pacific Ocean get their nutrients from a surprising source

Hexagonal diamond up to 60 per cent stronger than normal diamonds could be used to create super-tough drilling and cutting tools for industrial applications

Mice with a handful of cancerous cells in their lungs experienced a 100-fold increase to this number after being infected with swine flu

A giant stick insect species found in Australia’s Wet Tropics named Acrophylla alta can reach 40 centimetres in length and weigh 44 grams

A mysterious residue inside a set of ancient Greek pots from Paestum, Italy, has now been identified as honey thanks to modern chemical analysis

Satellite images reveal how a subglacial lake erupted through the Greenland ice sheet – a phenomenon never witnessed before which could be driven by rising temperatures

An iron-air battery in the Netherlands, which can store energy for 100 hours or more to make renewable power sources more consistent, has become the world’s first “rust” battery to connect with an electricity grid

A battery made from cheap and non-flammable iron and salt could provide emergency power in one of California’s high wildfire risk zones

An analysis of thousands of forest plots reveals an underappreciated link between animal biodiversity and carbon storage