This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Technology

Governments bans on quantum computer exports have no basis in science

Several nations around the world have placed arbitrary limits on the export of quantum computers, despite today's devices having little practical use. The restrictions are counterproductive and at odds with the scientific method

News

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News

Technology

Multiple nations enact mysterious export controls on quantum computers

Identical wording placing limits on the export of quantum computers has appeared in regulations across the globe. There doesn't seem to be any scientific reason for the controls, and all can be traced to secret international discussions

News

Life

More than 100 shark species may face major population declines by 2100

News

Physics

Incredibly complex mazes discovered in structure of bizarre crystals

News

Humans

Ancient Denisovans hunted snow leopards on the Tibetan plateau

News

Environment

Making roofs white or reflective is the best way to keep a city cool

News

Technology

Google creates self-replicating life from digital 'primordial soup'

News

Technology

Computer viruses can spread by using ChatGPT to write sneaky emails

News

Health

The temperature of your face could help diagnose medical conditions

News

Humans

50,000-year-old picture of a pig is the oldest known narrative art

News

Life

Vivid snake species with blue lips and yellow eyes is new to science

News

Environment

'Butter' made from CO2 could pave the way for food without farming

News

Mathematics

Physicists figured out the ideal container size for pistachio shells

News

Environment

Flower farm could supply nickel for electric vehicle batteries

News

Chemistry

Weird form of 'dangling' ice spotted in space for the first time

News

Humans

Britain saw centuries of economic growth under Roman rule

News

Health

Gene therapy could prevent the tau tangles linked with Alzheimer's

News

Life

Stunning blue-skinned frog is a rare genetic mutant

News

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Analysis

Environment

Thousands of US dams may be unprepared for extreme rain

Many dams in the US were designed decades ago using estimates of precipitation based on outdated science – and that makes them more vulnerable to warming-driven extreme weather

News

Health

Is ultra-processed food unhealthy? Here's why no one can agree

News

Earth

What would Earth look like in 25 years? I asked the experts

Comment

Mind

Why taking our grief out into nature can help us heal

News

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Aperture

Space

These stunning images made the shortlist for space photo competition

See some of the dazzling pictures that were shortlisted for the annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition

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Features

Humans

Why did humans evolve big brains? A new idea bodes ill for our future

Recent fossil finds suggest that big brains weren't an evolutionary asset to our ancestors but evolved by accident – and are likely to shrink again in the near future

Features

Health

The vital viruses that shape your microbiome and your health

Features

Physics

How a simple physics experiment could reveal the “dark dimension”

Features

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Culture

Comment

Why do teenagers take such risks? A new book has some answers

An eye-opening new book by psychologist Lucy Foulkes lifts the lid on the surprisingly rational strategies behind the risky behaviours of adolescence, finds Catherine de Lange

Culture

Comment

Why many inventions, from flying cars to smart robots, fail to launch

Culture

Comment

New Scientist recommends Martha Wells's sci-fi novella All Systems Red

Culture

Comment

Cute housebot Sunny lures us into an intriguing and flawed TV show

Culture

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More

Life

Why you shouldn't believe claims you can grow a rose in a potato

Social media assures us that we can grow a rose cutting in a raw potato. But you're better off sticking with tried and tested methods of rose propagation, says James Wong

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BrainTwister #28: Dice differences

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Tom Gauld: "How are your experiments going?"

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Twisteddoodles on a cute new addition to the team

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'Unprecedented and inconceivable': pylon falls over after nuts removed

Feedback wonders if a little engineering knowhow might have come in handy in Glorit, New Zealand, where procedures were seemingly ignored during maintenance of an electrical power pylon

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Letters

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The last word