This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Environment

We finally have the tools to build a net-zero world

"Yes we can." Barack Obama's political slogan is the perfect mantra for the net-zero targets that now apply to more than two-thirds of the global economy . As our feature imagining a day in a net-zero life demonstrates, most of the technologies that are required to achieve those objectives already exist, or are in early …

News

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News

Environment

Endangered bettong reintroduced in Australia after more than a century

Brush-tailed bettongs have been relocated from Wedge Island to the Yorke peninsula in South Australia Brush-tailed bettongs are back. These tiny endangered marsupials have been reintroduced to mainland South Australia after disappearing more than a century ago. The bettong, also known as a woylie, once occupied more than 60 per cent of Australia, but was …

News

Health

Scientists call for urgent investigation into covid-19 animal origins

News

Health

Endometriosis genetic discovery may lead to new forms of treatment

News

Environment

China's covid-19 lockdowns brought forward spring bloom by eight days

News

Health

Kidney test adjustment based on ethnicity cut from UK medical guidance

News

Humans

7200-year-old DNA suggests Denisovans bred with humans on Sulawesi

News

Space

Martian cave entrances may offer a life-friendly radiation shield

News

Health

We can track antibiotic resistance in wild bears’ tooth plaque

News

Space

Mysterious cosmic rays spotted coming from ordinary stellar explosions

News

Health

Injected hydrogel could help regenerate damaged cartilage in joints

News

Life

Caterpillar populations decline 50 per cent in areas with streetlights

News

Environment

How domesticating the African baobab tree could secure its future

News

Environment

Climate change linked to risk of viruses jumping species in the Arctic

News

Health

Opioid levels in US wastewater spiked during the early pandemic months

News

Space

Quantum nature of gravity may be detectable with gravitational waves

News

Mind

Woman loses ability to feel hungry after stroke damages her brain

News

Environment

Hurricane Ida was almost certainly made worse by climate change

News

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Analysis

Technology

Will PayPal's adoption of bitcoin make cryptocurrency more mainstream?

Will the cryptocurrency be more widely used now that PayPal accepts it in the UK? PayPal has two decades of experience in online payments and manages 403 million user accounts. So, it caused ripples when it announced on 23 August it would allow UK customers to buy and sell four cryptocurrencies: bitcoin prices rose to …

News

Technology

What ancient money tells us about the future of computers

News

Environment

Why the UK doesn't need a new coal mine

News

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Aperture

Life

Amazing images make New Scientist Photography Awards 2021 shortlist

THESE fascinating images depict how science and technology influence our lives and the world around us, from the stunning wildlife inhabiting even the most unassuming of places to the environmental and biological hazards that are transforming our planet. The selected photos over the next few pages are the shortlisted and winning entries to our new …

Regulars

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Features

Mind

The hard problem of consciousness is already beginning to dissolve

Science can solve the great mystery of consciousness – how physical matter gives rise to conscious experience – we just have to use the right approach, says neuroscientist Anil Seth

Features

Environment

Net-zero living: How your day will look in a carbon-neutral world

Features

Humans

The surprising upsides of spite and how to harness them

Features

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Culture

Humans

The Wonderful review: The people who came together to make the ISS

Film The Wonderful: Stories from the space station Clare Lewins Universal OVER 20 years ago, five space agencies representing 15 countries came together to build one of the most ambitious engineering projects the world had ever seen . It took more than 30 missions, with parts manufactured thousands of kilometres apart and assembled by spacewalkers …

Culture

Humans

The Actual Star review: A masterpiece of imaginative world building

Culture

Humans

Wonderworks review: How stories affect our brains

Culture

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More

Space

Now is the perfect time to spot Neptune and Uranus

AFTER a few months of rising during the day, making them impossible to see, the solar system's biggest and most distant planets are once again visible at night. While Jupiter and Saturn are great targets to look for, shining brightly enough to see with the naked eye, the more distant ice giants are trickier to …

Regulars

Puzzle #129: Where is the treasure and how do you know?

Regulars

Tom Gauld on a very cautious scientist

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on accidental discoveries

Regulars

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Regulars

The truth about a truth study that was untruthful

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

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word