Join us for a mind-blowing festival of ideas and experiences
11 February 2022
Our award-winning festival, New Scientist Live is back to stimulate, challenge and inspire with some of today’s biggest scientific discoveries and ideas.
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Premium
Animals with weird neurons may rewrite the story of brain evolution
10 April 2021
The neurons of comb jellies are a peculiar shape and use chemicals not found in the brains of other animals – hinting they might have evolved independently of other neurons
Writing: Making Your Mark reveals the power of the written word
26 April 2019
Is a written culture necessary to make a better culture or better citizens? A smart, satisfyingly deep exhibition at the British Library leaves us wondering
The 'me' illusion: How your brain conjures up your sense of self
5 September 2018
Self-awareness isn't the pinnacle of consciousness - it's just an accidental byproduct of evolution, and a figment of our minds
Chimp evolution was shaped by sex with their bonobo relatives
24 May 2018
Some chimpanzee populations gained useful DNA from interbreeding with bonobos, and one may even have become more gentle and “bonobo-like” in its brain structure and behaviour
We may have got the evolution of our big brains entirely wrong
23 May 2018
Many scientists think that our big brains evolved to help us cope with the complexities of social living, but a model suggests it was more to do with finding food and lighting fires
World's most-spoken languages may have arisen in ancient Iran
23 May 2018
About 3 billion people speak Indo-European languages like English and Hindustani, and it seems the first such tongue was spoken south of the Caucasus mountains
People adapted to the cold and got more migraines as a result
3 May 2018
A gene variant that helps humans cope with colder climates also seems to have put people living in northerly regions at a higher risk of migraine
Surprise! Having a big brain really does mean having less muscle
28 February 2018
It’s an evolutionary mystery how humans and other primates found the energy to support their large brains, but now it seems sacrificing some muscle might have helped
Ancient jawbone suggests humans left Africa 50,000 years earlier
25 January 2018
We thought that Homo sapiens were confined to Africa until 120,000 years ago, but a jawbone from an Israeli cave reveals an exodus over 170,000 years ago
