This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Earth

In 2023, we have many opportunities to build a better future

The coming year will be a turning point for the Amazon rainforest, artificial intelligence and even our diets. Let's choose a more hopeful direction for humanity

News

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News

Space

SpaceX, Blue Origin and ULA plan to launch huge new rockets in 2023

ULA's Vulcan Centaur and Blue Origin's New Glenn are big rockets, but they are dwarfed by SpaceX's Starship, the largest rocket the world has ever seen

News

Environment

2023 could mark a turning point for the Amazon rainforest

News

Technology

EU's Artificial Intelligence Act will lead the world on regulating AI

News

Health

Why we probably won't get new covid-19 vaccines in 2023

News

Physics

The world's ultimate X-ray machine will start up in 2023

News

Mind

Will 2023 be the year we finally understand consciousness?

News

Environment

A factory will soon start making green food from air and electricity

News

Space

Spacecraft are heading to a metal asteroid and Jupiter's moons in 2023

News

Life

Bird flu vaccination may be the only way to have free-range chickens

News

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Analysis

Physics

Achieving nuclear fusion would be building on the shoulders of giants

It took generations of work by engineers and scientists to reach this month’s nuclear fusion milestone, but there are big challenges ahead, says Matthew Sparkes

News

Humans

When did hominins start cooking? It might be earlier than we thought

Comment

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Aperture

Humans

Telling the story of Antarctica through 100 objects

The 250th anniversary of the first documented crossing of the Antarctic circle is being marked with a new book that traces the continent's history via 100 artefacts from around the world

Regulars

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Features

Life

Largest ever animal may have been Triassic ichthyosaur super-predator

New fossil discoveries show predatory marine reptiles from 200 million years ago may have been bigger than today’s blue whales – and that they evolved astonishingly rapidly

Features

Health

The truth behind melatonin and why it may not help you sleep

Features

Physics

How sounds from space are revealing otherwise hidden cosmic phenomena

Features

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Culture

Humans

The best popular science books out in 2023

Discover a quantum world of numbers, the amazing new science of the human electrome and long views of Earth and its wonders in this look at the best non-fiction coming this year

Culture

Humans

The best science fiction books out in 2023

Culture

Humans

The best science fiction television to watch out for in 2023

Culture

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More

Humans

How to make honeycomb at home

Honeycomb, or cinder toffee, isn't difficult to make, but it reveals the complex science involved in transforming sugar into confectionery, explains Sam Wong

Regulars

Puzzle #202: Can you find a way to get the numbers 2 to 10?

Regulars

Tom Gauld sees in the new year

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on popular science books

Regulars

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Regulars

Twins in the dock: the strange cases that leave justice at a loss

Feedback investigates the identical twins accused of cheating in an exam, and names the winner of the Ambiguously Titled Research Study of the Month award

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Letters

Regulars

The last word