This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Health

There's a simple solution to our salt addiction - we must adopt it now

Efforts to curb the amount of sodium we eat have mostly failed, so governments must now try a new strategy: adding potassium to table salt

News

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News

Health

Parkinson’s disease could be prevented by a recent tetanus vaccine

People who have had a recent vaccine against tetanus appear to be less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, suggesting that the bacterial infection is involved in the condition

News

Technology

Hackers are using AI to find software bugs - but there is a downside

News

Humans

Ancient Egyptian skull shows oldest known attempt at treating cancer

News

Physics

Time may be an illusion created by quantum entanglement

News

Life

Snares are wiping out South-East Asian wildlife – what can be done?

News

Health

Risk of bird flu outbreak in cows causing pandemic is less than feared

News

Mind

Babies group together their squeals and growls to prepare for speech

News

Space

'Unluckiest star' may be trapped in deadly dance with a black hole

News

Life

Chicks link shapes with 'bouba' and 'kiki' sounds just like humans

News

Technology

Bioelectronic patch uses living bacteria to treat psoriasis in mice

News

Life

Small fern species has a genome 50 times larger than that of humans

News

Environment

Cleaner ship emissions may warm the planet far faster than expected

News

Humans

Ancient snake drawings are among the largest known rock art worldwide

News

Health

Periods are starting younger and we're struggling to pin down why

News

Life

Ancient geese stood 3 metres tall and weighed as much as a cow

News

Space

Stunning image reveals the intricate structure of supersonic plasma

News

Space

China's Chang'e 6 spacecraft begins sampling on far side of the moon

News

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Analysis

Technology

Can Google fix its disastrous new AI search tool?

Google's AI Overviews tool can offer impressive answers to search queries, but it will also make up facts and tell people to eat rocks. Can it be fixed, or will it have to be scrapped?

News

Environment

Embrace wooden buildings for the sake of your health and the planet's

Comment

Society

Race is a social construct, but racism can cause real biological harm

News

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Aperture

Life

Striking image lets you see inside a deep-sea anglerfish's killer jaws

This astonishing image may look like a deep-sea monster, with its big teeth and gaping mouth, but the humpback anglerfish is really no bigger than your hand

Regulars

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Features

Health

How to easily satisfy your salt cravings without damaging your health

Could potassium fortification be the answer we're looking for when it comes to battling our unhealthy addiction to salt?

Features

Mind

Why excessive positivity is bad for your health and mental well-being

Features

Physics

How materials that rewind light can test physics' most extreme ideas

Features

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Culture

Comment

Michael Crichton and James Patterson's novel Eruption fails to thrill

Eruption, the much-vaunted "collaboration" of the late Michael Crichton and thriller king James Patterson, may work better as a film than a book. Wait till then, says Emily H. Wilson

Culture

Comment

How to take on AI's challenge to ideas about what can be conscious

Culture

Comment

Amazonian activist Nemonte Nenquimo tells her story in a potent memoir

Culture

Comment

New Scientist recommends Now You See Us at the Tate Britain

Culture

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More

Life

Why I won't be fertilising plants with milk, despite what Tiktok says

Social media is adamant that you can fertilise your houseplants with milk, but I'll be saving mine for a hot drink, says James Wong

Regulars

BrainTwister #23: Four points, two distances

Regulars

Tom Gauld on the cost of science

Regulars

Twisteddoodles: 'This model is quite hot'

Regulars

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Regulars

Solving the mystery death of a Danish black-headed gull

Feedback was intrigued to learn that a mussel has finally been found innocent of the death of a Danish black headed gull back in 1952

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Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word