d

What to expect at the COP16 biodiversity summit

Countries are convening in Colombia to debate how they will achieve wide-ranging targets to stem biodiversity loss and how they plan to pay for it




d

Many Iron Age swords may be tainted by modern forgery

Ancient weaponsmiths combined bronze and iron to fashion swords during the early Iron Age – but modern forgers glue together elements from different weapons, making it difficult for researchers to study the ancient technology




d

Preserved tracks suggest non-avian dinosaurs used their wings to run

Not all winged dinosaurs were necessarily capable of full flight, but this anatomical feature may have enabled them to travel further by flapping or gliding




d

What the US election will mean for AI, climate action and abortion

The upcoming US presidential election will determine how the country regulates tech, combats the climate crisis and decides on access to abortion




d

Can sensor technology stop a wildfire before it starts?

The US Department of Homeland Security is trialling chemical sensors that detect the first whiff of smoke in the air and alert fire crews while a potential blaze is still smouldering




d

Morphing red blood cells help bats hibernate - and we could do it too

Animals that hibernate need a way to keep their blood flowing as their body temperature drops, and it seems that the mechanical properties of red blood cells may be key




d

Amateur sleuth finds largest known prime number with 41 million digits

The largest prime number is now 16 million digits longer than the previous record found in 2018, thanks to an amateur hunter and his large collection of high-power graphics cards




d

Meta AI tackles maths problems that stumped humans for over a century

A type of mathematical problem that was previously impossible to solve can now be successfully analysed with artificial intelligence




d

The mystery of the missing La Niña continues – and we don't know why

A climate-cooling La Niña pattern was expected to develop in the Pacific Ocean months ago, but forecasters now say it won't appear until November




d

Extremely rare Bronze Age wooden tool found in English trench

In a wetland on the south coast of England, archaeologists dug up one of the oldest and most complete wooden tools ever found in Britain, which is around 3500 years old




d

All your questions about Marburg virus answered

Everything you need to know about Rwanda's outbreak of Marburg virus, which has been described as one of the deadliest human pathogens




d

A supernova may have cleaned up our solar system

A nearby star that exploded some 3 million years ago could have removed all dust smaller than a millimetre from the outer solar system




d

Google tool makes AI-generated writing easily detectable

Google DeepMind has been using its AI watermarking method on Gemini chatbot responses for months – and now it’s making the tool available to any AI developer




d

DNA has been modified to make it store data 350 times faster

Researchers have managed to encode enormous amounts of information, including images, into DNA at a rate hundreds of times faster than was previously possible




d

Neuroscientist finds her brain shrinks while taking birth control

A researcher who underwent dozens of brain scans discovered that the volume of her cerebral cortex was 1 per cent lower when she took hormonal contraceptives




d

Battery-like device made from water and clay could be used on Mars

A new supercapacitor design that uses only water, clay and graphene could source material on Mars and be more sustainable and accessible than traditional batteries




d

Carbon emissions are now growing faster than before the pandemic

Despite talk of a green recovery, global greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise as the world emerged from coronavirus lockdowns




d

Electric skin patch could keep wounds free of infection

Zapping the skin with electricity could stop bacteria that live there harmlessly from entering the body and causing blood poisoning




d

Some wildfires are growing twice as fast as they did two decades ago

In the western US, the average maximum growth rate of fires has more than doubled over the past two decades




d

Your gut bacteria are at war - and force their enemies to switch sides

Rival tribes of bacteria armed with poison darts are fighting it out in your gut, with armies of traitors often winning the day




d

Complex form of carbon spotted outside solar system for first time

Complex carbon-based molecules crucial to life on Earth originated somewhere in space, but we didn't know where. Now, huge amounts of them have been spotted in a huge, cold cloud of gas




d

Tiny battery made from silk hydrogel can run a mouse pacemaker

A lithium-ion battery made from three droplets of hydrogel is the smallest soft battery of its kind – and it could be used in biocompatible and biodegradable implants




d

This surprisingly creative trick helps children eat more fruit and veg

Weaving tales of magical fruit and vegetables into your children's stories may encourage them to eat healthy snacks




d

DNA helps match 'Well Man' skeleton to 800-year-old Norwegian saga

The Sverris saga describes how castle invaders “took a dead man and cast him unto the well, and then filled it up with stones”, in what may have been an early act of biological warfare - and now researchers believe they have found the skeleton of the man in question




d

NASA is developing a Mars helicopter that could land itself from orbit

The largest and most ambitious Martian drone yet could carry kilograms of scientific equipment over great distances and set itself down on the Red Planet unassisted




d

AI models fall for the same scams that we do

Large language models can be used to scam humans, but AI is also susceptible to being scammed – and some models are more gullible than others




d

Stone Age network reveals ancient Paris was an artisanal trading hub

Ancient stone goods found across France may have been made by skilled craftspeople in what is now Paris, who traded along vast networks




d

Weird microbes could help rewrite the origin of multicellular life

Single-celled organisms called archaea can become multicellular when compressed, highlighting the role of physical forces in evolution




d

Meditation seems to improve our empathy for strangers

In a small study, women experienced more empathy for strangers who were experiencing pain after an eight-week meditation training programme




d

The world is falling far short of its goal to halt biodiversity loss

In 2022, countries pledged to halt biodiversity loss by protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030, but progress has been too slow thus far




d

Flu viruses have evolved proteins that let them break through mucus

Computer simulations of how influenza A moves through human mucus found it is ideally configured to slide through the sticky stuff on its way to infecting cells




d

Clean energy rollout means China’s emissions may have peaked

China's carbon emissions may have peaked in 2023, as figures suggest its output has plateaued so far in 2024




d

Quantum 'Schrödinger's cat' survives for a stunning 23 minutes

A typically fragile quantum superposition has been made to last exceptionally long, and could eventually be used as a probe for discovering new physics




d

AI helps driverless cars predict how unseen pedestrians may move

A specialised algorithm could help autonomous vehicles track hidden objects, such as a pedestrian, a bicycle or another vehicle concealed behind a parked car




d

Astronauts could hitch a ride on asteroids to get to Venus or Mars

Asteroids that regularly fly between Earth, Venus and Mars could provide radiation shielding for human missions to explore neighbouring planets




d

The Amazon is teetering on the edge of a climate tipping point

In some recent years, the Amazon biome released more carbon than it absorbed, and further degradation could make it a permanent shift




d

Quantum batteries could give off more energy than they store

Simulations suggest that when a quantum battery shares a quantum state with the device it is powering, the device can gain more charge than was stored in the battery to begin with




d

Oldest tadpole fossil known to science dates back 161 million years

A fossil of a tadpole from Argentina is 161 million years old - and isn't that different from some modern species




d

Cancer atlas reveals how tumours evolve inside the body

A massive undertaking to map cancer tumours is providing new insights into how the disease forms, evolves and develops resistance to treatments




d

Simple fix could make US census more accurate but just as private

The US Census Bureau processes data before publishing it in order to keep personal information private – but a new approach could maintain the same privacy while improving accuracy




d

Michelangelo's 'The Flood' seems to depict a woman with breast cancer

The Renaissance artist Michelangelo had carried out human dissections, which may have led him to include women with breast cancer in some of his pieces




d

Spies can eavesdrop on phone calls by sensing vibrations with radar

An off-the-shelf millimetre wave sensor can pick out the tiny vibrations made by a smartphone's speaker, enabling an AI model to transcribe the conversation, even at a distance in a noisy room




d

Chimpanzees will never randomly type the complete works of Shakespeare

The infinite monkey theorem states that illiterate primates could write great literature with enough time, but the amount of time needed is much longer than the lifespan of the universe




d

War-era sugar rationing boosted health of UK people conceived in 1940s

People conceived during the UK's 1940s and 50s sugar rationing have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure than those conceived after rationing ended




d

Data centres may soon burn as much extra gas as California uses daily

In support of their AI ambitions, tech companies are rapidly expanding US data centres, and this growth is on track to significantly increase US gas demand by 2030




d

Cloud-inspired material can bend light around corners

Light can be directed and steered around bends using a method similar to the way clouds scatter photons, which could lead to advances in medical imaging, cooling systems and even nuclear reactors




d

One in 20 new Wikipedia pages seem to be written with the help of AI

Just under 5 per cent of the Wikipedia pages in English that have been published since ChatGPT's release seem to include AI-written content