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An intellectually delicious recipe for electric meringue

14 June 2023

Feedback explores a feat of dessert-based engineering cooked up by researchers in South Korea and the US, and ponders the true meaning of public relations

T4AEYJ Stellar explosion shining in deep space, cosmic star blast in Universe. High resolution galaxy background.

This week’s new questions

14 June 2023

If time started at the big bang, is it ever likely to come to a halt? And why do almost all vertebrates have tails, even when they don’t seem useful, but not apes or frogs?

Could land-dwelling octopuses develop technology? (Part 3)

14 June 2023

To develop technology, octopuses would need to evolve writing to pass information between generations, says one reader

R2YAK1 Professional washer in black uniform and cap wiping with sponge car wheel of a luxury car during the washing process outdoors

Why are the front wheels of my car much dirtier than the rear ones?

14 June 2023

Front wheels are dirtier due to the load of braking or road dirt, but one reader suggests driving backwards to test this out

MNN37P Illustration comparing the planets of the Solar System and the Sun on the same scale. The planets are shown to scale relative to each other but their distances are not. From left to right the bodies are: the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Will there ever be a time when all our solar system’s planets align?

14 June 2023

It will take so long for an alignment of all the planets to occur that, by then, the sun might have expanded to swallow some of them, say our readers

Puzzle #226: Can you decipher the substitution cipher?

14 June 2023

Can you solve this week’s logic puzzle, On reflection? Plus the answer to puzzle #225

R126CH Unrecognisable woman in casual clothing holding a box of used coffee ground to use as compost in her garden.

Why used coffee grounds may be doing your plants more harm than good

14 June 2023

We are often told to add used coffee grounds to garden soil to perk up plants. But the science doesn’t support this, says James Wong

Tom Gauld on a professor in disguise

14 June 2023

Tom Gauld's weekly cartoon

Twisteddoodles on inventing a new type of washing pod

14 June 2023

This week's cartoon from Twisteddoodles

See some of the images up for the Earth Photo 2023 competition

8 June 2023

From a photograph of algae choking an Indian river to a shocking depiction of the wearing away of the UK coast, these are some of the pictures in the running for the contest