This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Technology

Why AI firms should follow the example of quantum computing research

While artificial intelligence and quantum computing insiders have both been guilty of hyping up their products, only the latter group appears to still be applying proper scientific rigour to their field

Comment

---

News

Health

Omega-3 supplements seem to slow down biological ageing

Taking a daily omega-3 supplement appears to slow down the rate of biological ageing by three months – and even more so if you also take vitamin D and exercise

News

Environment

Rice variant slashes planet-warming methane emissions by 70 per cent

News

Life

Bonobos can tell when they know something you don't

News

Technology

How the megaquop machine could usher in a new era of quantum computing

News

Humans

Volcano-scorched Roman scroll is read for the first time in 2000 years

News

Life

Ancient relative of geese is the earliest known modern bird

News

Health

New type of brain cell may tell us when to stop eating

News

Humans

Enigmatic people who took over Europe millennia ago came from Ukraine

News

Physics

The perfect boiled egg takes more than half an hour to cook

News

Technology

Quantum computers have finally arrived, but will they ever be useful?

News

Life

Humpback whale songs have patterns that resemble human language

News

Technology

How PsiQuantum plans to build world's largest quantum computer by 2027

News

Technology

Dexterous and light prosthetic hand can tie knots and comb hair

News

Space

Stunning image shows the closest ever Einstein ring

News

Space

Astronomers have spotted the largest known object in the universe

News

Life

See the fluorescing tail feathers of a male emperor bird-of-paradise

News

---

Analysis

Technology

Why quantum computers are being held back by geopolitical tussles

Fears that other nations could gain an advantage are holding back the development of quantum computers, with export controls and other restrictions making it harder for researchers to work across borders

News

---

Aperture

Images that capture our timeless obsession with the moon

Lunar: A history of the moon in myths, maps and matter tells the story of the coexistence between humanity and the celestial body through striking images and detailed maps

Regulars

---

Features

Life

A whole new world of tiny beings challenges fundamental ideas of life

The surprising discovery of entities smaller than viruses raises profound questions about what life is and how it got started

Features

Mind

How studying babies' minds is prompting us to rethink consciousness

Features

Physics

How cosmic stasis may drastically rewrite the history of the universe

Features

---

Culture

Humans

The story of ancient Mesopotamia and the dawn of the modern world

Ancient Mesopotamia comes alive in Moudhy Al-Rashid's must-read, millennia-spanning history, cleverly wrought from tablets written in the world's oldest script

Culture

Technology

Documentary-maker films the fallout as her husband opts to be a cyborg

Culture

Life

New Scientist recommends the corpse flower at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Culture

Society

The story of how rape became a forensic crime is grim but gripping

Culture

---

More

Technology

How the future rise of AI lawyers could force Big Oil to pay up

By the 2030s, a wave of litigation led by artificial intelligence was forcing Big Oil firms to pay billions in damages for their emissions, says our guide to the future, Rowan Hooper

Comment

Life

The science behind the gardening hack of adding aspirin to plant water

Regulars

Technology

Dating apps should fix their problems before saddling us with new ones

Comment

BrainTwister #60: Say what you see

Regulars

Tom Gauld on how fast they grow up

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on a new super wash for lab coats

Regulars

---

Regulars

Comment

Virgin Money flusters chatbot, but just try living in Scunthorpe

Feedback learns of the online assistant at finance firm Virgin Money shocked at the use of its own company name, and recalls glorious past mishaps when language filters took it too far

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word