Search | New Scientist

Old Scientist: Safety first, from fly killer to plutonium

4 April 2018

There are a terrifying number of ways to be unsafe, as a look through the April archives of New Scientist shows

The spiky but stunning burrs that litter the South African coast

4 April 2018

Walk barefoot through the grass in South Africa and you may step on one of these spiky seeds, which lie in wait, hoping to catch a ride to someplace new

Just half a degree less global warming would avert food shortage

3 April 2018

Governments are dithering over whether to limit climate change to 1.5°C or 2°C, but it seems the stricter target would avoid food shortages and major economic losses

Refusing to accept GM food is safe is like climate change denial

3 April 2018

Environmentalist Mark Lynas, who once destroyed GM crops and then made headlines by ending his opposition, is stepping up his call for reason to triumph

Shrimp and lobster are as bad for the climate as eating beef

2 April 2018

Fish and seafood are normally fairly environmentally friendly, but it takes so much fuel to catch some species that their carbon footprint is as big as that of red meat

GM worms make a super-silk completely unknown in nature

30 March 2018

Thanks to a spot of genetic hacking, silkworms can make a new form of silk not found in nature that includes a synthetic amino acid. It could be used in medicine

The frogs bouncing back after almost being wiped out by disease

29 March 2018

A few amphibian species in Panama are recovering from near-extinction, after apparently evolving resistance to the deadly chytrid fungus

Dog brain scans show if they are looking at a happy or sad face

29 March 2018

Dogs can recognise different human facial expressions, like happy or sad, and now a simple brain scan can reveal which expression a dog is looking at

How birds focus even with eyes on opposite sides of their heads

28 March 2018

Birds find it difficult to fix their gaze on an object, because their eyes don’t face forwards, but one species has found an ingenious solution

Lost villages from centuries ago found in the Amazon rainforest

27 March 2018

Even some of the more remote parts of the Amazon rainforest, far from major rivers, were once densely populated – centuries before the arrival of Europeans