Octopuses fall for the rubber hand illusion just like us 21. July 2025 (18:00) Octopuses can be tricked into thinking that a fake arm is part of their body, suggesting they have a sense of body ownership similar to our own(New Scientist)
We've discovered a door to a hidden part of reality – what's inside? 21. July 2025 (18:00) Physicists would dearly love to find new particles, but there's no sign of them in colliders like the LHC. Now we have found a new way of accessing a tiny slice of reality where they might be hiding(New Scientist)
Should we preserve the pre-AI internet before it is contaminated? 21. July 2025 (14:56) The rise of AI-generated content since 2022 risks making it impossible to know when information was produced solely by humans, which could be a problem for both future AI and historians(New Scientist)
Immortal stars could live forever by 'eating' dark matter 21. July 2025 (14:00) A computer simulation of stars near the centre of our galaxy offers an explanation for their mysteriously young appearance – they may be capturing dark matter for extra fuel(New Scientist)
Your chance of having a boy or girl may not be 50/50 18. July 2025 (21:00) We commonly think that sperm determines the sex of a child, depending on whether it carries an X or Y chromosome, but a study now suggests that a woman's age is also a factor(New Scientist)
Exposure to microplastic makes animals want to eat it more 18. July 2025 (20:00) Over multiple generations, small nematode worms began preferring microplastic-contaminated food over cleaner options, which could have consequences for ecosystem health(New Scientist)
Ranching and farming have eroded almost all the soil in the Alps 18. July 2025 (19:00) Grazing livestock and farming over the past 4000 years have rapidly accelerated the rate of soil loss in the Alps, jeopardising the ecosystem and putting the mountains at risk of further erosion(New Scientist)
Laws of quantum physics may rule out a universe that came before ours 18. July 2025 (18:26) Instead of the big bang, some physicists have suggested that our universe may have come from a big bounce following another universe contracting – but quantum theory could rule this out(New Scientist)
Is it time to aim for 1.7°C as the new limit for global warming? 18. July 2025 (14:00) With the world on the cusp of passing 1.5°C of warming, scientists are turning their attention to defining a new limit for temperature rises – but not everyone agrees that we should(New Scientist)
