New Scientist

New Scientist covers the latest developments in science and technology that will impact your world. New Scientist employs and commissions the best writers in their fields from all over the world. Our editorial team provide cutting-edge news, award-winning features and reports, written in concise and clear language that puts discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life today and in the future.

What an idea! • Looking back on the best (and worst) ideas of the past 25 years

New Scientist

Back where she belongs

Our demand for water is exceeding supply • A large proportion of the global population faces high water stress – when freshwater demand exceeds supply from rain and snowmelt

World faces era of ‘water bankruptcy’ • Countries have spent beyond their sustainable water budgets, which could have huge economic, social and environmental costs, finds Alec Luhn

River deltas at risk

T. rex took 40 years to become fully grown

Body fat supports your health in surprisingly complex ways

Giving astronauts tardigrade powers could come at a cost

No quantum advantage here • A problem so complex it was thought to require the use of a quantum computer may just have been solved by a conventional supercomputer, reports Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Climate impacts could cost trillions • We may have underestimated the rate of warming, and its effect on the world economy, as the annual rate of emissions continues to increase, discovers Alec Luhn

Distant ‘little red dot’ galaxies may contain baby black holes

Faint star may be a failed supernova

Woolly rhino genome holds clues to its demise

Earliest known supernova sheds light on first stars

Tiny tweaks may mean a longer life • Getting just a few more minutes of sleep and exercise per day, plus eating an extra half-serving of vegetables, could add a year to your life, finds Carissa Wong

Eating meat could help people reach 100

AI solves historical maths problems • ChatGPT has helped people untangle problems that previously eluded professional mathematicians, potentially changing the entire field, reports Alex Wilkins

You wouldn’t want to use Pompeii’s public baths before the Romans arrived

Long-living sharks seem unaffected by diseased hearts

Changing direction • We thought we could “nudge” people into making the world a better place. We were wrong, say Nick Chater and George Loewenstein

This changes everything • The lonely internet crowd Almost 80 years ago, sociologists identified a new personality type that is particularly sensitive to loneliness. It’s even more relevant today, says Annalee Newitz

Monkey magic

The wildest of rides • An enthralling book reveals how genetics has rewritten the intertwined story of horses and humans, finds Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Breaking the rules • Finding order in what looks like chaos is seductive in science and daily life, but is the price too high? Alex Wilkins explores

New Scientist recommends

The sci-fi column • Fresh fields Peter F. Hamilton’s latest epic, A Hole in the Sky, is set on a troubled ark ship hundreds of years into its voyage, with fantastic plot twists and turns. I’m a big Hamilton fan, but it’s a little too teenage for me, says Emily H. Wilson

Your letters

The 21 Best IDEAS of the 21st century • We are now a quarter of the way into this century, and science has already reshaped our understanding of ourselves, the universe and our place within it. But what are the ideas that have helped guide this progress? Over the next 14 pages, discover New Scientist’s pick of the most transformative ideas in science and technology since the turn of the millennium.

X marks the spot • Time it right each...