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.

A burning question • We must tackle the root cause of climate change, not just adapt

New Scientist

Europe faces fiery new reality • Paradoxically, suppressing wildfires has also made European countries more vulnerable to huge blazes. Experts say prevention strategies need updating, finds Alec Luhn

‘Fire clouds’ are making wildfires more dangerous

Questions over dementia surgery • Thousands of people in China have had a now-banned experimental procedure that aims to help the brain flush away Alzheimer’s-linked proteins, reports Carissa Wong

We all have DNA from ‘ghost’ ancestors in our genomes

Amazon’s huge lost civilisation • The little-known Aquiry society built tens of thousands of giant earthworks in the rainforest and had a population of up to 3 million people, finds James Woodford

Extraordinary supermassive black hole caught straying

Could eating less protein extend our lifespans?

Quantum advantages multiply • Three problems that conventional computers couldn’t crack have been solved by quantum computers, showing their potential importance for science, says Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Smallpox in 400-year-old Chilean mummies came from Europe

Guillain-Barré drug switches off part of immune system

Eye implant partly restores sight • A device that lets people with severe vision loss read has been granted EU and UK approval

An ichthyosaur had a very unexpected last meal

Is district cooling the solution to extreme heat in cities? • Pipes carrying cooled water are more efficient than air-conditioning. Could they help to chill heatwave-stricken cities in the US and Europe, asks Alec Luhn

‘Hypoxia in a pill’ may ease symptoms of neurodegenerative conditions

Jaguar mysteriously trekked epic 2100 kilometres

Flattened skulls hint at Iron Age parenting

Dinosaurs were wiped out by global firestorm

Food for thought • More and more research is linking ultra-processed foods to depression, anxiety and even dementia. Helen Thomson tucks into the evidence

Clumpy cosmos • The cosmological principle says everything, everywhere should be roughly the same across the universe. Is it time to give up on that idea, asks Leah Crane

Drugs for ‘undruggable’ proteins • A new type of drug that works in a completely different way has been approved, and it could revolutionise treatment options, says Michael Le Page

Net loss

Three more great reads on the meaning of life

The trouble with life • A provocative book sets out to describe the living world very differently – by insisting on agency and purpose everywhere. Michael Marshall explores

New Scientist recommends

Into the unknown • An in-depth history of the successes and failures of space exploration reminds us of what faces all who leave our planet, finds Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Rewinding ancient history • Tom Hiddleston is the unlikely host of a Pompeii documentary. It is unabashedly cheesy, but somehow it works, says Josh Bell

Your letters

The prediction machine • A new kind of artificial intelligence is starting to understand cause and effect in the physical world, discovers Daniel Cossins

What are AI world models good for?

CSI: Microbiome • Every crime scene contains hidden microbial clues, but can we use them to solve cases, asks...