Life We mustn’t let a superpower turn its back on rationality Protesting the incoming Trump administration’s anti-science agenda may not be easy – but it’s vital not just for the US, but the world News
Technology Squeezed light cools tiny drum to coldest temperature ever Tiny supercooled membrane It’s the coolest drum of all time. The temperature of a tiny round membrane, only 20 micrometres wide and 100 nanometres thick, has been lowered below the “quantum limit”, colder than was thought possible. The usual way to get something to an extraordinarily cold temperature is to use laser cooling , in … News
How to protest against Trump in his expanded surveillance state Trump plans to follow the UK's lead in extending domestic snooping powers. From Tor's hidden dangers to the right secure chat apps, here’s how to stay under the radar News
Life Early sketches of the brain show Ramón y Cajal's artistic genius SANTIAGO RAMÓN Y CAJAL was always a rebel. Born in Spain in 1852, as a youngster he ignored his father's pleas to follow a career in medicine and instead pursued his own interests – drawing, bodybuilding and photography, to name just a few. This photograph (top) is one of his many self-portraits. He even built … Regulars
Life Breath of life: Did animals evolve without oxygen? By suffocating sponges and searching underwater lakes we're overturning the story of how complex life began on Earth Features
Space Lost in space: Two books on the forgotten women of astroscience Once upon a time “computers” were human, most were women, and come the 1950s some of them were black – and they were charting a path to the moon Culture
Life Fish lure snails to their nest to help camouflage their babies Zoologger is our weekly column highlighting extraordinary animals – and occasionally other organisms – from around the world Regulars
Feedback: Food researchers greasing the wheels of progress Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Regulars