Search | New Scientist

Steel and concrete are climate change's hard problem. Can we solve it?

13 November 2019

Heavy industry produces more carbon dioxide than the entire US. Perfect the new technologies that could clean it up and we can score a crucial climate victory

The world's supply of rubber is in jeopardy. Can we find new sources?

15 May 2019

Rubber is essential to modern life, but the trees that provide it could be wiped out by a deadly disease. Some scrubby weeds may provide the unlikely solution

Our wooden future: making cars, skyscrapers and even lasers from wood

13 March 2019

Wood can now be processed into a super-material with extraordinary properties – and a wood-based, climate-saving economy is just what the planet needs

Upend atom! We've found a whole new way of doing chemistry

16 May 2018

We thought we knew how molecules worked – but the discovery of an entirely unknown class of reactions has forced us to rethink the basics

Green is the new black: Redesigning clothes to save the planet

21 February 2018

The clothes on your back are responsible for huge amounts of pollution – but lab-grown fabrics and changes to our fashion habits can make a big difference

Fighting fakery: How to make products immune to counterfeiting

27 September 2017

Alcohol, medicine, money, car airbags – you name it, it's been faked. Now tags you can't copy could block bogus goods forever

Atomic Legoland: How to build wonder stuff from the atom up

16 August 2017

Miracle materials that would supercharge clean energy are on the cards now we can play with individual atoms. We just need to work out how to arrange them

Eight great accidents in scientific discovery

3 August 2017

Scientists looking for one thing sometimes stumble upon the unexpected. Here are some lucky breaks, from the cold depths of space to the heat of the bedroom

Bigger bang theory: teach atoms new tricks to beef up explosives

26 July 2017

Mastering materials that have never been made before could deliver blasts big enough to shoot rockets to Mars

Throwaway culture: The truth about recycling

19 July 2017

We take it for granted that recycling is the best way to dispose of waste. But is that just greenwash? New Scientist sorts through the trash so that you can make up your mind