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.

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Wisdom about age • Prejudices about the elderly are unhealthy, in more ways than you might think

New Scientist

The northern lights go south

‘Dark radiation’ may solve cosmic clash • Surprising recent measurements hint that the universe isn’t expanding in the way we had thought. This could be explained by a theoretical radiation that is like invisible light, finds Leah Crane

Oldest known human viruses found hidden within Neanderthal bones

Edible gel offers rapid solution to intoxication

‘Impossible’ star mystery resolved by three-body solution

Analysis Mental health • Does using the internet make us happier or sadder? A large study suggests that access to the internet is linked to our life satisfaction, but questions remain, says Clare Wilson

Anthropological accounts support the idea that humans evolved to chase down prey

Monkeys can learn to tap to the beat of the Backstreet Boys

A glimpse of alien civilisations? • Infrared signatures of dozens of stars hint they host structures called Dyson spheres

Spray on sticky oil traps insects without using toxins

Hackers can steal data by changing computer CPU speed

Flu vaccine for children linked to pneumonia risk for relatives

Nuclear arms risk from fusion power • The ingredients needed to make a bomb could be rapidly created by a fusion reactor

Lavender scent helps pigs feel less stressed

Having more kids protects brain from the decline of age

Game theory shows we never learn perfectly from mistakes

Analysis Gene editing • Can genetically modifying a rare marsupial save it? Researchers are aiming to make the northern quoll resistant to the toxic cane toads wiping it out in Australia, reports Michael Le Page

Superfit runners live for longer than expected

Renewables hit a record high • Clean energy generated 30 per cent of global electricity for the first time last year

Nearly indestructible robot hand is being used to train AIs

Painful menstrual periods linked to worse exam results

Sperm whale clicks are closest thing to human language yet found

Longest-living cat breeds revealed

DeepMind AI predicts how drugs interact

Mars blasts plasma out of its atmosphere into space

Really brief

Writing for the future • A new literary prize aims to reward the best climate fiction, because books can change the narrative on global warming, says Tori Tsui

This changes everything • A scientific way to control minds The US has been honing its psychological warfare skills since the 19th century, when it started sending anthropologists onto battlefields, says Annalee Newitz

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Forces of nature • Turning data from two dramatic storms into music is the ambitious project of a man whose cancer diagnosis added urgency to the work, says Graeme Green

Uncreative thinking • Creativity’s origins may be too complex for simple explanations, finds Sandrine Ceurstemont

The TV column • A world to watch Here’s our pick of the best science documentaries of the year so far, from David Attenborough on the rise of the mammals to a profile of Victor Glover, soon to be the first Black astronaut to orbit the moon, says Bethan Ackerley

Over the hill? • Positive attitudes towards...