We are already seeing the pandemic's effects on mental health, and we need to act urgently to avoid a full-blown crisis, says Sam Howells  

Over half the world’s wild tigers now live 5 kilometres from a road, and infrastructure projects planned in Asia could fragment their habitat further

Many studies suggest coronavirus has low transmission rates among children, but there are still risks to reopening schools that were closed due to social distancing policies

A number of studies have found a link between air pollution and increased covid-19 deaths, but it isn't clear why. Both attack the lungs, but it could just be that more people live in polluted areas

The UK government has refused to say how many covid-19 contact tracers it has employed, with less than three weeks to go until its target of recruiting 18,000 of them by mid-May

Hyperconsumption adds to environmental destruction that brings people into contact with animal viruses that can spark pandemics. We have to avoid the temptation to rely on it to get us out, writes Graham Lawton

The remains of three slaves found in Mexico contain the earliest signs of the hepatitis B virus and yaws bacteria in the Americas, suggesting transatlantic slavery introduced these diseases

Lockdown measures and pandemic-related anxiety may be making you have more vivid dreams. Evidence suggests talking about them can help

Vampire bats are social creatures that build relationships through grooming and food-sharing, but when they feel ill, they self-isolate and call out for contact far less

Healthcare systems need to prepare for the extensive physiotherapy and mental rehabilitation that people put on ventilators for covid-19 will need as they recover

Stars that are similar to the sun in every way we can measure are mostly more active than the sun, which hints that the sun’s activity may ramp up someday, risking solar eruptions

Apollo 11, Take Your Pills, Pandemic: How to prevent an outbreak, and Icarus are all great documentaries available to stream at the moment

For years, the oldest turtle fossils we could find had fully formed shells. Now, more primitive fossils are revealing the strange tale of how turtle shells evolved

The Tully Monster is a famously odd 300-million-year-old fossil that looks like an alien, but a new analysis suggests it was a backboned animal like a hagfish or lamprey

Weird blasts of radio waves from space called fast radio bursts have been baffling astronomers since they were discovered, but after finding one in our galaxy we may finally know what creates them

For orangutans, scratching is contagious – but unexpectedly, the behaviour is transmitted more between individuals that do not know each other well

Mark O'Connell's book Notes from an Apocalypse is an exploration of doomsday preparation from Mars colonists to fallout shelter estate agents

Four coronaviruses cause around a quarter of all common colds, but each was probably deadly when it first made the leap to humans. We can learn a lot from what happened next

A fresh look at the world’s oldest religious texts suggests ancient Egyptians saw the sky as a water-filled iron container from which chunks fell to Earth as meteorites

People with rheumatoid arthritis often take medicines that can have damaging side-effects, but a system that uses red light to deliver drugs exactly where they are needed could help

From vintage satellites to lunar rovers, space archaeologist Alice Gorman is teasing out a unique history of humanity from the objects we've dispatched from Earth

China just tested its biggest rocket yet, along with a new capsule designed to carry humans to its planned space station, the moon and beyond

We’ve found a 200-metre cliff in Mars's Hellas basin, the first evidence of a river that flowed on the planet for more than 100,000 years

Brain implants have revealed that we replay conscious experiences while we sleep, with the same patterns of neurons firing during sleep as in waking life

To figure out what makes some people more vulnerable to severe cases of covid-19, we need to rethink what we know about infection

Telling Lies is a game where you sift through video calls to solve a mystery. Half the time you don't know what you should be doing, but that's part of the fun, says Jacob Aron

Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, we must work out how to stop the spread of poor information that has helped make a bad situation that much worse

Astronomers found a star that appeared to be orbiting nothing at all – but it’s actually the closest black hole ever at just 1000 light years away

Many countries are focusing coronavirus testing on people who have covid-19 symptoms. But regularly testing all essential workers would have more of an impact

The BCG tuberculosis vaccine boosts the production of immune cells and this may explain how it protects newborns from dying of sepsis

Finland’s two-year test of universal basic income has concluded that it doesn't seem to disincentivise working, and improves recipients’ mental and financial well-being

Human behaviour is key to the spread of coronavirus, so government scientists are trying to control our decisions. Does it work, and what happens when they get it wrong?

Many ancient monuments are claimed to be aligned to celestial phenomena, but we now have the first statistical evidence this is the case for the Egyptian pyramids

Mercury is much denser than the other rocky planets in the solar system, and that may be because a collision vaporised its surface and the debris was blown away by the sun

Making butter at home the traditional way is easy and the result is far more flavourful than the shop-bought version, says Sam Wong

People in lockdown are no longer trying to use technology to get their old lives back and that's a good thing, says Annalee Newitz

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic

Global warming has already made parts of the world – including cities in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates – hotter than the human body can withstand

The Bank of England says the UK faces its worst slump in 300 years, but on Thursday held off from any moves on rates or bond buying. Julian Satterthwaite reports.

Air France-KLM and jet engine maker Rolls-Royce are considering job cuts as lockdowns take a toll on first-quarter earnings. Francis Maguire reports.

Neiman Marcus Group filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, marking one of the highest-profile collapses yet among retailers forced to temporarily close stores in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Freddie Joyner has more.

While U.S. government guidelines say jobless workers who qualify for assistance should get payments within three weeks of applying, many - like Florida resident Claudia Alejandra - have been waiting twice that long. This report produced by Yahaira Jacquez.

Piper Sandler senior technical analyst Craig Johnson says the S&P 500 may trade in a narrow range through the summer before breaking north.

Aides to U.S. President Trump say their 2020 campaign will now be focus on two themes: Trump is the only candidate who can resurrect the economy and that Democrats will not be as tough on China, a country Trump is blaming for the pandemic.

After a week or so sick in bed in their New York City apartment in March, members of the Johnson-Baruch family were convinced they had been stricken by the novel coronavirus. Subsequent test results left them with more questions than answers. Lisa Bernhard has more.

U.S. President Donald Trump described his former national security adviser Michael Flynn as an 'innocent man' after learning that the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday abruptly sought to drop the criminal charges against Flynn.

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday abruptly asked a judge to drop criminal charges against President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn following mounting pressure from Trump and his political allies on the right. This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.

While U.S. government guidelines say jobless workers who qualify for assistance should get payments within three weeks of applying, many - like Florida resident Claudia Alejandra - have been waiting twice that long. This report produced by Yahaira Jacquez.

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany on Friday said it appears that the FBI 'manufactured' a crime in the case of President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, after the Department of Justice moved to drop the case on Thursday.

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany on Friday was asked about the U.S. economy that lost a staggering 20.5 million jobs in April, the steepest plunge in payrolls since the Great Depression, and she responded saying it was 'decided' by the president to 'stop the economy' to save lives.