New Scientist

New Scientist covers the latest developments in science and technology that will impact your world. New Scientist employs and commissions the best writers in their fields from all over the world. Our editorial team provide cutting-edge news, award-winning features and reports, written in concise and clear language that puts discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life today and in the future.

AI Einsteins • Superintelligent machines may well need us after all

New Scientist

Is this how to stop sea ice melting? • There are plans to preserve Arctic ice by pumping water onto the ice sheet and letting it freeze, but early trials have delivered mixed results, reports Alec Luhn

Huge study of Alzheimer’s genetics finds new drug targets

Salamanders’ secret glow • An amphibian’s fluorescent secretions may be used for communication

Glaciers in the ‘roof of the world’ are now melting

AI helps researchers crack a 50-year-old problem

Cancer-killing virus halts the growth of pancreatic tumours

Debate rages over mirror-life threat • Bacteria created using mirror images of natural biomolecules pose a risk to life on Earth, some researchers warn, but others say they have a key weakness, finds James Woodford

3D-printed lymph nodes could widen access to cancer therapy

We’ve taken one small step towards a base on the moon

Individualism gets in the way of love • People with a more individualistic mindset may experience romantic love less intensely

Supermassive black holes may give rise to strange worlds

Rich, eco-minded people emit the most

Photons behave strangely if you try to cut them

Attack on Iran had volcanic impact • A plume with almost 30,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide passed over a number of countries

People were using anaesthetic over 600 years ago

First quantum grandfather clock could probe where gravity comes from

Space storms could cause train chaos • Critical safety equipment in train systems around the world may need to be modified due to the threat posed by solar wind, finds Michael Le Page

The secret reason why gold never loses its shine

Will lab-grown sperm let infertile men have children? • A start-up claims it can grow sperm in the lab. But Michael Le Page thinks this will have to be combined with gene editing to be most helpful

Q-Day could destroy bitcoin – and our retirement savings • Even if you’ve never bought any cryptocurrency, its vulnerability to quantum computers could affect your money, finds Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Why your brain needs ‘Aha!’ moments • In the age of AI and instant answers to our questions, Helen Thomson discovers that figuring things out for yourself can boost brain health

Impossible art • 2026 The M.C. Escher Heritage Somerset House

Three more great books on the human body

Insides out • Giulia Enders made her name with Gut, a deep dive into our intestines. Now, she’s listening to what our other organs are telling us. Carissa Wong explores

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The human paradox • Why do we have big brains? Or walk on two legs? Biological anthropologist and broadcaster Alice Roberts talks human exceptionalism with Michael Marshall

Your letters

A revolution in maths • The stunning progress AI is making in maths is leaving some questioning whether there will still be room for humans, discovers Alex Wilkins

Hearing aids • Hearing loss is bad for the whole body, but there are ways to safeguard this crucial sense, finds Graham Lawton

“I’m quite optimistic that in the next 10-plus years, we are going to break the standard model” • As the Large Hadron Collider nears a four-year shutdown for upgrades, Mark Thomson, director...