We are generally as reluctant to contact a long-lost friend as we are to talk to a stranger, but scientists have come up with an approach so it's easier to make the first move
A new robotic hand can withstand being smashed by pistons or walloped with a hammer. It was designed to survive the trial-and-error interactions required to train AI robots
The quantum principle of superposition – the idea of particles being in multiple places at once – could help make quantum batteries that charge within minutes
Artificial compounds found in things like food packaging can be a risk to our health. We can clean them up, but who will foot the vast bill?
Around 3000 years ago, several empires and kingdoms in the Mediterranean collapsed, with a group of sea-faring warriors implicated as the culprit. But new evidence shows that many of our ideas ab...
From large and shell-covered to tiny and jelly-like, the developmental story of eggs offers a way to rethink the story of life, says Jules Howard in his new book Infinite Life
A proposal to define the Anthropocene as a geological epoch was rejected this March, but humanity's impact on Earth is real, whether formalised or not, says Jan Zalasiewicz
On a recent visit to the National Roman Museum, Feedback was an onlooker to the furore that ensued when a sparrow's nest was spotted in the mouth of an ancient stone face
A new plant in Iceland operated by the firm Climeworks can remove up to 36,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per year, more than quadrupling existing global capabilities
The latest version of the AlphaFold AI can help biologists predict how proteins interact with each other and other molecules, which is a boon to pharmaceutical research
A compound emitted by the Colorado river toad may reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in a similar way to LSD and psilocybin, according to a study in mice
From your popcorn bag to your waterproof jacket, forever chemicals are all around us. We're finally starting to understand what they are doing to our health - and how to get rid of them
Cold-brewing coffee can reduce its bitter taste, but it normally takes up to 24 hours as the grounds slowly steep. A new method that involves pummelling the grounds with ultrasound can drasticall...
Concern over the risks of enabling nuclear weapons development is usually focused on nuclear fission reactors, but the potential harm from more advanced fusion reactors has been underappreciated
Researchers are aiming to make the northern quoll resistant to the toxic cane toads wiping it out in Australia, but little progress has been made
Global temperatures in April 2024 were 1.6°C higher than the average for April during the pre-industrial era
Birman and Burmese cats typically live for more than 14 years while sphynxes live less than half as long on average, finds a study of pet cats in the UK
The rapid growth of solar power led to a record-breaking year for clean energy generation in 2023, and the year is expected to mark the start of a long-term decline in fossil fuels
Analysis of thousands of exchanges between the intelligent cetaceans suggests they combine short click patterns – similar to letters of the alphabet - into longer sequences
A practical superconductor would transform the efficiency of electronics. After decades of hunting, several key breakthroughs are inching us very close to this coveted prize
Software that has been blocked from connecting to the internet should be secure from hacking attempts, but now researchers have found a way to sneak data out by varying the speed of the computer'...
The strategy for tracking bird flu in US dairy cattle falls worryingly short of what is needed to prevent the outbreak from widening and potentially spreading to humans
An implantable heart pump could help children with heart failure awaiting transplants forego bulky devices that require long hospital stays
Two astronauts will have to wait to set off for the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, following a problem with the Atlas V rocket that caused the mission to be abor...
A robot that moves around by balancing on a ball could prove a better assistant for wheelchair users than humanoid robots that walk on two legs
A quantum bit inspired by Schrödinger’s cat can resist making errors for an unprecedentedly long time, which makes it a candidate for building less error-prone quantum computers
Information contained within quantum objects gets scrambled when they interact. Physicists have now derived a speed limit for this process, challenging the idea that black holes are the fastest d...
Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilities
A ribbon of electrodes could nestle in the gut to help diagnose gastrointestinal diseases linked to Parkinson’s
A surprise discovery has revealed that female stink bugs have a small indent on their hind legs that they use for cultivating fungi before spreading it on their eggs
The inactivation of one copy of the X chromosome in female mammals may start to fail as they get older, which may be why women have a higher risk of autoimmune conditions such as lupus
DNA analysis of remains found at medieval sites has identified closely related strains of leprosy-causing bacteria in the bones of humans and a red squirrel
Simulations of the crust of early Earth show that cycles of pressure caused by geysers or tidal forces could have generated cell-like structures and even very simple proteins
Migrating flies can carry pollen hundreds or thousands of kilometres, and this could help plants adapt to climate change
If all goes well, the Chang’e 6 probe will be the first ever to land on the far side of the moon to take samples and bring them back to Earth
Strange bursts of radio waves called FRBs have long been mysterious, and one of the most famous sources of these flashes may have an unexpected planet
Plants are often celebrated for the parts that are easy to see – flower, leaves, fruit – but scientists are uncovering the secrets of their more mysterious underground networks
The air and dust in climbing centres contain high levels of rubber particles from the soles of climbing shoes, some of which contain toxic additives
Climate change could be fueling bumblebee population loss by making hives too hot to handle
A male Sumatran orangutan chewed the leaves of a plant used in Indonesian traditional medicine and placed them on a wound on his face
Levels of protection measles provided by the MMR jab fall by a small amount every year, according to mathematical modelling
An analysis of the 2021 German federal elections has found that for every 200,000 times a politician's social media adverts were viewed, their vote share increased by 2.1 per cent - a potentially...
The skull of Shanidar Z was found in the Shanidar cave in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and has been painstakingly put back together
The record-breaking heat of 2023 has seen a rare disagreement break out between climate scientists, with some saying it shows Earth may have entered a new period of warming
Corals can survive heat-related bleaching, but research from the Great Barrier Reef suggests a full recovery may take longer than we thought
Blake Crouch's riveting Dark Matter sees physics professor Jason wanting out of the multiverse, after being kidnapped and dumped there by another version of himself
Finnair has cancelled flights to Tartu in Estonia this month because of an ongoing GPS jamming attack – and there is evidence that the attack is being controlled from Russia
By ignoring declining air pollution, regional climate models have greatly underestimated how hot Europe's summers and heatwaves will become
From an energy perspective, the move away from sodium vapour lamps to LEDs is great, but the news isn't so good when it comes to light pollution. The way we illuminate the world needs to be part ...
Digging sand or grit into clay soils is a drainage fix that has been around for years, but James Wong turns to nature to find a less backbreaking solution
From an orchid bee to a violet carpenter bee, these images show the insects in amazing detail
Chris French, who runs the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, explores what lies behind claims of ghosts, aliens and reincarnation in his new book
Feedback is intrigued by the possibilities of a new paper theorising that computer vision could be used to reconstruct shredded banknotes contained in a paperweight souvenir
My colleagues call me a supervillain for trying to destroy the cosmos, but this kind of imaginative thinking isn't so far from what scientists do, says space reporter Leah Crane
The future prime minister of this increasingly powerful nation should be prepared to play a key role in global climate policy
Drugs like Ozempic may help fight obesity. Johann Hari’s first-person account of taking the new medicines is a fascinating exploration of their impact
Nostalgia isn’t only about a rose-tinted view of the past. This emotion can also be put to use in surprising places, says Agnes Arnold-Forster
Chemists have found a link between the taste of a beverage and the shapes formed by its water and ethanol molecules, which explains why spirits like whisky taste more alcoholic at warmer temperat...
Disrupted gut microbiomes in male mice increase their offspring’s risk of low birth weight, stunted growth and premature death
Incredible results from trials of several new medications show they can prevent potentially deadly reactions to foods like peanuts, eggs and dairy - and may one day treat asthma
People who were asked to recall past events that made them angry experienced a change to their blood vessels that has been linked with heart attacks
A bristly bump on some mantises’ chests is a never-before-seen “gustifolium”, which may have evolved to help the insects with their highly specialised lifestyles
A new Stephen King short story collection, an Ursula K. Le Guin reissue and a celebration of cyberpunk featuring writing from Philip K. Dick and Cory Doctorow are among the new science fiction ti...
Spiked running shoes with a rubbery material between the inner and outer soles, and a stiff plate to improve stability, seem to help people move faster
Lunar settlers could avoid health problems like muscle wasting by running on the inside of a circular wall to mimic the pull of Earth’s gravity on the body
A process to dissolve the mineral olivine in acid could provide a plentiful, energy-efficient material for carbon-negative cement
Long feted by fossil hunters and geologists, if UNESCO recognises the extraordinary rock formation at Madygen in Kyrgyzstan, it will soon be a player on the world stage
Total solar eclipses are astonishing, but travelling to get to one is less so – this episode of Dead Planets Society is all about rearranging the solar system to create a more convenient eclips...
A report found data privacy problems with the vast majority of 30 companies that sell neurotechnology devices to consumers. New US state laws aim to change that
A joint investment by the Australian federal government and the government of Queensland makes PsiQuantum one of the largest dedicated quantum computing firms in the world
India’s space agency has been remarkably successful in recent years, growing the country’s prestige on the global stage – and the 2024 election is unlikely to change that
As the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, climate policy decisions taken by India will shape the fate of the entire world. But can it continue to develop its economy while keeping...
Plastic production is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than flying – at a summit in Canada, countries were divided on how to deal with this under-recognised part of the plastic pro...
Red foxes and Arctic foxes dive headfirst into snow at up to 4 metres per second to catch small rodents, and the shape of their snouts reduces the impact force
Climate change means many tree species planted today in Europe won’t survive to the end of the century, but English oaks could thrive in many areas
Cosmological puzzles are tempting astronomers to rethink our simple picture of the universe – and ask whether dark matter is even stranger than we thought
A court in the Philippines revoked the permit to grow rice genetically modified to boost vitamin A, but the government is expected to appeal against the decision
Governments need to take action to protect people from potentially toxic additives in tyre rubber, say researchers after finding they can get into food from contaminated soil
An AI trained on the heart's electrical activity alerted physicians about patients at high risk of dying, significantly reducing deaths in a clinical trial with almost 16,000 patients at two hosp...
Generative AI models designed to create images from text can be adapted to construct complex optical illusions - pictures that look like different things when viewed from far away or with motion ...
As the US grapples with an ongoing bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle, the country’s health agencies are ramping up surveillance efforts and working to develop a vaccine if needed
Commercial bowhead whaling ended in the early 20th century, but the industry’s lasting effects on the whales’ genetic diversity are leading to declines again
To celebrate the launch of our new event series in the US, kicking off with a masterclass on the brain and consciousness, we have made five incredible stories on that subject free to read
The genetic variant, which causes people to be insensitive to growth hormone, may also protect people from heart disease
When alpacas mate, males deposit sperm directly into the uterus, a reproductive strategy not confirmed in any other mammals
Before it shattered over Germany, the asteroid 2024 BX1 was clocked rotating once every 2.6 seconds – the fastest spin we have observed
In addition to the overall rise in sea level, the heights of tides are also changing as the oceans warm and separate into more distinct layers
Political campaigns are deploying AI-generated deepfake versions of politicians to reach hundreds of millions of eligible voters in India’s 2024 election – the world’s largest ever
The medicines nalmefene and naltrexone helped compulsive gamblers reduce their betting activities, trials have shown
In just 2 hours, small metal robots can capture most nanoscopic plastic particles from a sample of water
The neurons in wasp brains that help them recognise hive mates are similar to those in the brains of primates, including humans
The supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies may capture smaller black holes. Not only does this prove a place for the small black holes to grow, it also makes the supermassive ones lo...
Photographer Diane Tuft has documented how global warming is affecting bodies of water around the world
In Breathe, Earth is stripped of its oxygen, the plants are dead, oceans are dried up, no one trusts anyone — but we don't know what caused it. This sci-fi film fails to stand out among superio...
For all the students wondering why they would ever need to use the Pythagorean theorem, Katie Steckles is delighted to report on a real-world encounter
The Large Hadron Collider is testing entanglement in a whole new energy range, probing the meaning of quantum theory – and the possibility that an even stranger reality lies beneath
The balance of omega fatty acids in the food we eat affects our health. But what does the evidence say about claims you should be seeking to reduce omega-6 intake as well as boosting omega-3s?
"Advanced recycling" promises to convert dirty, mixed waste plastic into brand new plastic time and time again. It is a major step towards creating a circular economy and fighting climate change
Investigations of the paradoxical link between tinnitus and hearing loss have revealed a hidden form of deafness, paving the way to possible new treatments
One in three adults have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – often without knowing. Now we understand what causes this stealthy condition and how to reverse it