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18 up-and-running projects that could save us from climate change

20 February 2019

Slashing greenhouse-gas emissions doesn’t have to be hard, and can even be an economic win – as these big low-carbon success stories from around the world show

Neptune’s smallest moon keeps getting smashed up and resurrected again

20 February 2019

A tiny moon of Neptune called Hippocamp, first spotted in 2013, has probably been smashed up and reassembled around nine times in the last 4 billion years

Meat in a dish could be bad for the planet

20 February 2019

Lab-grown meat may be worse for the environment than farming cattle for food in the long run, despite doing away with methane-producing cattle

Gene therapy for common cause of sight loss tested for first time

20 February 2019

A woman has become the first person to receive gene therapy for age-related macular degeneration, one of the most common causes of sight loss

We don't know the real impact of fake news and other disinformation

20 February 2019

Let's not panic about OpenAI's smart text generator just yet – we still don't know the extent to which fake news can influence people and election

Hey Prime Minister, leave them climate protest kids alone

20 February 2019

Leaders who criticise children protesting inaction over climate change risk alienating a generation – and suffering the consequences at the ballot box

Toe uncurling

20 February 2019

A friend recently passed on a tip for treating cramp. He said I should cup my hands over my nose and mouth and inhale my exhaled breath. It seems to work quite quickly for cramp in my toes. Is that a coincidence or placebo, or is there a rational explanation?...

Fleece police

20 February 2019

I spend a lot of time outdoors and wearing fleece jackets seemed a good use of recycled plastic. I now learn that every time I wash them, I pollute the oceans with microscopic fibres. If they go to landfill, they will presumably stay there for hundreds...

First transmission

20 February 2019

The Europeans who arrived in Sydney Cove in Australia from the 1780s onwards weren't decimated by disease after contact with the local Aboriginal people, whereas the reverse was all too true. Were the local population free of contagious diseases?