This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Technology

An unhackable quantum internet comes with tough privacy questions

WHEN a powerful new technology comes around, people often split into two camps: those captivated by its benefits and those worried by the trouble it could unleash. This has happened with everything from knitting machines in the 16th century to artificial intelligence today. It is, of course, a false dichotomy. As physicist and artificial intelligence …

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News

Life

Major 2015 wildfires in central Amazon killed a quarter of vegetation

A wildfire in the Brazilian Amazon in September 2019 Devastating wildfires that swept the central Amazon in 2015 caused a loss of around 27 per cent of vegetation in the region over the next three years. The fires were caused by severe drought following the 2015 El Niño , a climate pattern that sees the …

News

Environment

The world has missed its target for protecting oceans to save species

News

Technology

This robotic extra thumb can be controlled by moving your toes

News

Life

Spiders avoid surfaces that have previously been covered with ants

News

Technology

Tiny self-propelling submarines could help clean up toxic waste

News

Space

Crewed lunar mission must launch by 2025 to avoid deadly solar storms

News

Technology

AI can count a meal’s calories based on images from a wearable camera

News

Technology

An AI has disproved five mathematical conjectures with no human help

News

Life

Some bird embryos know to hide from predators even inside their eggs

News

Technology

Ransomware attacks are becoming more common – how do we stop them?

News

Physics

Neutron stars are remarkably smooth thanks to their intense gravity

News

Health

Partial sight restored for man who is blind thanks to optogenetics

News

Life

Toxic beetle’s genetics reveals how evolution makes new organs

News

Humans

Huge spiral found in Indian desert may be largest drawing ever made

News

Health

WHO boss wants 10 per cent of every country vaccinated by September

News

Health

How effective are the different vaccines against covid-19 variants?

News

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Analysis

Health

Breastfeeding and covid-19 vaccines - will they affect your baby?

A woman holds her baby after a home birth Following a change in official guidance in April, people who are breastfeeding in the UK have now been given the green light to receive a covid-19 vaccination . This is great news. But in the absence of any clinical trials proving that it is safe to …

News

Space

More people are going to space, but diversity is still grounded

News

Humans

Alice Roberts: Archaeogenetics will help us solve mysteries of past

News

Space

Why there are still huge mysteries in supernova physics

News

Technology

Japan wants to use the Olympic games to promote hydrogen to the world

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Aperture

Life

8 beautiful photographs of seeds and fruits

Photographer Levon Biss RARELY have seeds and fruits so closely resembled a work of art . These strikingly intricate images capture the fertilisation and reproduction of plants . The photos are taken from the book The Hidden Beauty of Seeds and Fruits: The botanical photography of Levon Biss , which showcases a branch of botany …

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Features

Technology

Quantum internet: The race is on to build an unhackable online world

Great leaps are already being made in creating a super secure quantum internet. It could overturn the role of information in our lives and give us a globe-spanning quantum supercomputer

Features

Humans

Can't be bothered? Why some of us are more motivated than others

Features

Health

What coronaviruses in pets can teach us about the future of covid-19

Features

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Culture

Space

Intergalactic review: A promising prison-break drama set in 2143

Tula (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) with Cady (Eleanor Tomlinson, left) and Genevieve (Diany Samba-Bandza, right) in Intergalactic On the festering streets of Old London, rookie cop Ash Harper (Savannah Steyn) chases down Verona (Imogen Daines), a fugitive who has stolen a valuable commodity. Seemingly abandoned as the climate crisis intensified, the London we know today has become …

Culture

Space

Project Hail Mary review: Andy Weir conjures a new tale of space peril

Culture

Humans

The Menopause Manifesto review: A guide to counteract medical misogyny

Culture

Humans

Don't Miss: Amazing animal tales in The Wild podcast’s third series

Culture

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More

Puzzle #115: Can you work out where Roman the robot will end up?

#115 A random robot Roman the test robot is being given one final roam before being consigned to the scrapheap where he can rust in peace. He has been programmed to make four equal length steps. For his first move, he can travel one step east, west, north or south. Each of his subsequent three …

Regulars

Humans

How to source peat-free compost for your garden

Regulars

Tom Gauld: 'James, could you bring some isopropanol from the store?'

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on how science makes you feel special

Regulars

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Regulars

Humans

Is a self-portrait a self-portrait if the portraitist has no self?

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

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Letters

Regulars

The last word