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This week's magazine

1 March 2025

Issue 3532

New Scientist issue 3532 cover
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Editor's picks

2FMXX1B USA. Jeff Goldblum in a scene from (C)Universal Pictures film: Jurassic Park (1993). Plot: A pragmatic paleontologist visiting an almost complete theme park is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose. Director: Steven Spielberg Ref: LMK110-J7096-110521 Supplied by LMKMEDIA. Editorial Only. Landmark Media is not the copyright owner of these Film or TV stills but provides a service only for recognised Media outlets. pictures@lmkmedia.com

Life

How to think about the most contentious ideas in science

Comment
Mummified Wolf Pup found at Last Chance Creek

Life

Permafrost mummies are unlocking the secrets of prehistory

Features
PR1RKC Resting T lymphocytes. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of resting T lymphocytes from a human blood sample. T lymphocytes, or T cells, are a type of white blood cell and components of the body's immune system. They mature in the thymus. T lymphocytes recognise a specific site on the surface of pathogens or foreign objects (antigens), bind to it, and become activated to produce antibodies or cells to eliminate that antigen. Specimen courtesy of Professor Greg Towers, University College London, UK. Magnification: x7000 when printed at 10 centimetres wide.

Health

Inside the new therapies promising to finally beat autoimmune disease

Features
The research that will help you not suck at digital communication

Society

The research that will help you not suck at digital communication

Features
The story of mirror life: From intriguing idea to unprecedented threat

Life

The story of mirror life: From intriguing idea to unprecedented threat

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

2FMXX1B USA. Jeff Goldblum in a scene from (C)Universal Pictures film: Jurassic Park (1993). Plot: A pragmatic paleontologist visiting an almost complete theme park is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose. Director: Steven Spielberg Ref: LMK110-J7096-110521 Supplied by LMKMEDIA. Editorial Only. Landmark Media is not the copyright owner of these Film or TV stills but provides a service only for recognised Media outlets. pictures@lmkmedia.com

Life

How to think about the most contentious ideas in science

When faced with real-life controversy over the thorniest of research topics, we can seek guidance from fiction

Comment

News

Watch a cuttlefish transform into a leaf and a coral to hunt its prey

Life

Watch a cuttlefish transform into a leaf and a coral to hunt its prey

In new video footage, cuttlefish show off their dazzling camouflage techniques, such as creating stripes that move over their bodies or mimicking non-threatening objects

News

Technology

AI-generated optical illusions can sort humans from bots

News

Health

CAR T-cells enable record-breaking 18-year nerve cancer remission

News

Space

Gigantic star has gone through a rapid transformation and may explode

News

Environment

The world’s glaciers have shrunk more than 5 per cent since 2000

News

Health

Mini-brains have been fused to resemble that of a 40-day-old fetus

News

Life

Mice seen giving 'first aid' to unconscious companions

News

Life

The bold plan to bring back Tasmanian devils across mainland Australia

News

Environment

NOAA scientists refuse to link warming weather to climate change

News

Health

US stops sharing flu data with WHO amidst one of its worst flu seasons

News

Space

Asteroid 2024 YR4 will now almost certainly miss Earth in 2032

News

Life

Cyanobacteria bloom gives capybaras a new green coat

News

Analysis

Health

Why being bilingual really does seem to delay dementia

Multiple studies suggest that speaking more than one language pushes back the onset of dementia, but doesn't seem to stop it entirely

News

Aperture

Smiling-Damselfly-?Benjamin_Salb This is a stacked image of a damselfly I encountered on an early morning macro outing this spring. The expression of the damselfly is remarkable, and the large pseudopupil area gives it an almost cartoonish quality. This is my favorite damselfly capture to date.

Life

Incredible close-up images of insects scoop photo contest honours

A “smiling” damselfly and shimmering beetle captivated judges in the Royal Entomological Society’s 2024 Photography Competition

Regulars

Features

The story of mirror life: From intriguing idea to unprecedented threat

Life

The story of mirror life: From intriguing idea to unprecedented threat

Grave warnings have been issued about the dangers of creating life forms using mirror-image molecules. How worried should we be?

Features

Life

Permafrost mummies are unlocking the secrets of prehistory

Features

Society

The research that will help you not suck at digital communication

Features

Health

Inside the new therapies promising to finally beat autoimmune disease

Features

Culture

Illustrator?s signature must be included in all reproductions Carboniferous forest. Illustration of a flooded forest containing primitive plant species and fauna that existed during the Carboniferous period (360 to 286 million years ago). At bottom centre is a Hylonomus reptile. Its prey, a giant dragonfly (Meganeura monyi) is at left. The plants included Lepidodendron, an ancient lycopod also known as a scale tree. The Carboniferous forests gave rise to the coal deposits that fuel industry today.

Life

Gripping account of how plants and animals shaped each other

Palaeontologist Riley Black is back with a thrilling guide to how animals and plants co-evolved over millennia

Culture

Humans

From doomy prophecies to epic dystopias, we are suckers for end times

Culture

Space

New Scientist recommends Jennifer Walshe: Zero-gravity opera

Culture

Mind

Sci-fi thriller Dissolution smartly interweaves time travel and memory

Culture

More

Why humanoid robots are missing the point

Technology

Why humanoid robots are missing the point

Why pour so much technological effort into developing a human-shaped robot when it could be any shape at all, asks Leah Crane

Comment

Environment

A spat over sand eels threatens puffins and other iconic seabirds

Comment

Mind

Struggling with envy? Here are some science-backed ways to help

Regulars

BrainTwister #62: Particular patterns in piles

Regulars

Tom Gauld on hazardous science

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on the evolution of cars

Regulars

Regulars

How a theory about maleness could explain the state of the world

Comment

How a theory about maleness could explain the state of the world

Feedback is intrigued by a theory arguing that when maleness is threatened, men overcompensate with increased support for war and homophobia – and interest in SUVs

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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