New Scientist Space - Space Headlines
Neanderthal 'kneeprint' found next to mysterious stalagmite circle
An impression made in clay around 175,000 years ago could be a kneeprint left by one of the builders of a strange stalagmite circle found deep inside Bruniquel cave in south-west France
Categories: Astronomy
The mathematician who doesn’t exist
A secret society of French mathematicians has been revolutionising the field of mathematics under a pseudonym for nearly a century. Columnist Jacob Aron finds that this mythic collective provided maths a rigorous and useful foundation, and did some real harm along the way
Categories: Astronomy
Hantavirus outbreak will not cause a covid-style pandemic, says WHO
The World Health Organization sought to quell worldwide fears over the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius and reassure the public that the risk of widespread transmission is low
Categories: Astronomy
PCOS postpones perimenopause and allows pregnancies at older ages
Only 3 per cent of those with polycystic ovary syndrome reach perimenopause by the age of 46, which may allow them to conceive when older
Categories: Astronomy
Coffee's mood-boosting effects aren't just down to caffeine
A comprehensive study exploring coffee’s physiological effects finds that some of its benefits are down to polyphenols and their influence on gut bacteria
Categories: Astronomy
The best new popular science books of May 2026
A guide to walking, a look at the world’s Google searches and a deep dive into the secrets of our DNA are some of the topics tackled by the popular science books out this month
Categories: Astronomy
Pressure from individual particles measured for the first time
A device made using a tiny bead floating in a beam of light can measure extremely small pressures and could help find a mysterious kind of neutrino
Categories: Astronomy
Dating over 50 is probably on the rise – but we know little about it
Research into dating has until now almost exclusively focused on younger people, but we’re finally beginning to investigate how romance changes in later life
Categories: Astronomy
New Scientist recommends Attenborough documentary Making Life on Earth
The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week
Categories: Astronomy
Former Soviet scientific megastructures captured in striking photos
Eric Lusito crossed the former Soviet Union to explore vast scientific sites, some of which have been deserted for years, for his new book
Categories: Astronomy
Bronze Age Britons fashioned copper-mining tools out of old bones
An analysis of 150 artefacts from a site in Wales shows that the ancient practice of making tools out of bone persisted even after the advent of metal-working
Categories: Astronomy
David Attenborough is one of a kind, for better or worse
People often ask who might replace the nature broadcaster, who turns 100 this week. The truth is that he’s irreplaceable, but a wide range of voices are attempting to fill his shoes.
Categories: Astronomy
What to read this week: the excellent Beyond Belief by Helen Pearson
Solving society's problems with evidence is a work in progress, argues a must-read new book. The process is surprisingly new – and riddled with complexities, finds Michael Marshall
Categories: Astronomy
Less nostalgia, more pain: scientists study 1763 Eurovision songs
Feedback discovers that the prevailing themes of Eurovision songs may come and go, but the urge to win stays the same.
Categories: Astronomy
Red-light therapy does have health benefits but not the ones you think
Red-light therapy promises to treat everything from acne and hair loss to depression and chronic pain. Many of these claims are overhyped, but evidence suggests it can have healing powers
Categories: Astronomy
Deforestation could trigger Amazon tipping point in the 2030s
At least 15 per cent of the Amazon has already been lost, and further destruction could unleash widespread rainforest dieback with as little as 1.5°C of global warming
Categories: Astronomy
Huge landslide in Alaska caused 481m-high tsunami
When the slope of a mountain above Tracy Arm fjord, in Alaska, gave way on 10 August 2025, 64 million cubic metres of rock fell into the fjord, causing a 5.4 magnitude seismic event
Categories: Astronomy
Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass is still an essential read
This 2013 book by an Indigenous botanist is a quietly urgent act of healing that forces Western science to look at the world in a different way
Categories: Astronomy
Read the winner of this year’s Young Science Writer Award
Prize-winning young writer Hasset Kifle, 17, explores how the world of super-competitive running is being transformed by so-called “super shoes” – and what cost this will have on the sport
Categories: Astronomy
Extinct relative of koalas discovered in Western Australia
Fossils reveal that there were at least two kinds of koala when humans first arrived in Australia, but one died out about 30,000 years ago when the west of the continent dried out
Categories: Astronomy
