Best ever map of early universe is double-edged sword for cosmologists 18. March 2025 (17:00) The finest ever map of the cosmic microwave background - the faint evidence of the universe's early form - has yielded precise confirmation of the age of the cosmos and its rate of expansion. But for some scientists, the findings offer a frustrating lack of clues to major cosmological mysteries(New Scientist)
Psychology is revealing how to have a better relationship with money 18. March 2025 (17:00) Money is a deeply emotive subject, our attitudes to it vary wildly and we are reluctant to bring it up in conversation. Could new research help us to be less weird about it?(New Scientist)
New evidence microbes played a role in mysterious markings on Mars 18. March 2025 (16:00) There are a couple potential explanations for distinctive markings found on a Martian rock, but new evidence suggests they are most likely to be related to microbial activity(New Scientist)
Dust devils on Mars produce lightning-like zaps of electricity 18. March 2025 (14:00) NASA’s Perseverance rover recorded unusual sounds as a Martian dust devil passed directly over the robotic vehicle in 2021, and we now know they came from electrical activity in the storm(New Scientist)
Have we vastly underestimated the total number of people on Earth? 18. March 2025 (11:00) A new way of estimating rural populations has found that we may be undercounting people who live in these areas, potentially inflating the global population beyond the official count of 8.2 billion - but not everyone agrees(New Scientist)
Most quakes on Mars happen during the summer – and we don’t know why 17. March 2025 (18:00) NASA’s InSight lander recorded surprisingly large quakes that indicate Mars is more seismically active than we first thought. Mysteriously, they only happen during Martian summers(New Scientist)
LHC finds intriguing new clues about our universe's antimatter mystery 17. March 2025 (17:00) Analysing the aftermath of particle collisions has revealed two new instances of “CP violation”, a process that explains why our universe contains more matter than antimatter(New Scientist)
Rolling boulders on Titan could threaten NASA's Dragonfly mission 17. March 2025 (15:00) The wind on Saturn's largest moon is strong enough to blow around rocks of up to half a metre in diameter, which could put NASA's upcoming Dragonfly mission at risk(New Scientist)