Everything from genetic tests to immigration numbers is full of shaky statistics. David Spiegelhalter's new podcast helps separate the factual from the flaky

Christopher Medina-Kirchner used to be a drug dealer. Now he is a researcher looking at their effects, and says society's views on drugs and addiction need updating

To make your own sourdough bread, you need to create an environment where wild yeast and bacteria want to hang out. Sam Wong explains how

Skull fragments from Homo erectus found alongside stone tools in Ethiopia suggest the ancient hominin used more tool technology than we thought

Julia Ebner infiltrated the hidden forums that extremists use. Her experiences lay bare how they hijack social media and video games to spread hate – and how to beat them

This week, watch as Westworld breaks out of the park and into LA, discover why vision is so important and listen as a drama exploits the weirdness of sound

In an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus, China has shut its wildlife markets for good. It is a welcome move, says Adam Vaughan

The second season of podcast The Dream debunks much of the wellness industry, but creating empathy for the people caught up in it is where the show shines

After finding out she was autistic, Siena Castellon sparked a global school movement that celebrates neurodiversity, which now includes nearly half a million students

An analysis of a classic Monty Python sketch suggests the Minister of Silly Walks has a walking style 6.7 times more variable, or silly, than normal walking

Efforts to prevent prisoners from reoffending are often lacking in scientific rigour and can even fly in the face of available evidence

By understanding garlic's chemistry we can amp up its pungency in a fiery garlic sauce or tame it through gentle cooking to make mellow garlic confit, says Sam Wong

Twitter used to be full of cat memes and had a culture of sharing. Now, I pay a company to make sure my presence on the site is extremely limited, writes Annalee Newitz

We thought hominins evolved to run around 2 million years ago – but a study of the famous Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis, suggests she could run too

TikTok's rise has been meteoric. With more than 3 million people a day now downloading the app, its success is down to more than just luck

This week, listen as David Attenborough reads nature classic The Peregrine, learn how skyscrapers and railway cuttings offer unlikely oases for wildlife, and watch an Altered Carbon anime spin-off

As the coronavirus outbreak continues, why do some people stockpile and others shrug? The psychology of uncertainty explains what's going on, says Rachel McCloy

Westworld is soon to return with season three. Four episodes in to the impossibly glamorous, highly urbanised future, I can't wait to find out what's going on, writes Emily Wilson

People living in Russia about 20,000 years ago built a "bonehenge" – a circular structure made of mammoth bones that could have been used to store food

It's easy and fun to make hand-pulled noodles, especially if you understand how gluten is acting inside the dough to make it stretch y and elastic, says Sam Wong

The mysterious Liangzhu civilisation was a neolithic "Venice of the East", rivalling ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia with its engineering marvels

Ancient humans in Africa mixed far more than we thought, according to new findings revealed by sequencing the genomes of a diverse group of people from across the world

Shards of pottery probably used for transporting food suggest a mountain site in the Czech Republic may have been a nature retreat for Iron Age religious hermits

This week, watch a sci-fi film set in an infinitely recursive suburbia, read about the woman who cracked star chemistry and catch great new games

Kate Darling researches human-robot interaction. She explains why we are prone to forming emotional connections with robots and what we can learn from our relationships with pets and other animals

New archaeological finds show that New Guinea developed sophisticated cultural practices around the same time as they were emerging in Europe and Asia

Many people feel intimidated by the prospect of making pastry, says Sam Wong, but a little understanding can go a long way to successfully making this beautiful rhubarb tart

Your immune system ages too, weakening as you get older and making you more susceptible to infections. Fortunately, we are discovering plenty of things you can do to turn back the clock and stay healthy

Always forgetting birthdays? Terrible at staying in touch? New tech promises to turn you into the best buddy ever. We put it to the test

This week, make your own ending to a thriller set in a locked-down lab, join a nature walk to track Europe’s spring and listen to the trends shaping our future

Pandemics of the past can teach us about the current one, says John Troyer, who studies how we use technology to alter the experience of death

Forget the simple out-of-Africa idea of how humans evolved. A huge array of fossils and genome studies has completely rewritten the story of how we came into being.

A prehistoric human species that lived in Europe 1.2 million to 800,000 years ago is emerging as a contender to be our last common ancestor with Neanderthals

This week, listen as the US debates covid-19, play a struggling survivor of an earthquake-torn city and discover how the planet gains from human progress slowing down

Is our love affair with AI really about building a new kind of deity to meet human needs no amount of rationality can fill? Max Barry's disturbing novel Providence lays out the case, says Sally Adee

Boredom can be unpleasant, but we can learn from some of the world's dullest people how to keep ourselves amused, says boredom researcher James Danckert

West Africa's waters are a hotspot for illegal fishing, says conservationist Justine Dossa. She is working to change fishing practices and tackle pollution

All you need to make satisfying plant-based protein is flour and water. Seitan, or wheat gluten, takes a little effort to produce, but the results are worth is, says Sam Wong

The covid-19 pandemic has many of us stuck at home. The result could completely reshape how we use the internet, writes Annalee Newitz

A piece of string found in a cave in France is the oldest ever discovered and shows that Neanderthals knew how to twist fibres together to make cords

They Are Already Here: UFO culture and why we see saucers by Sarah Scoles tries to find out what's so appealing about hunting UFOs

Watch Apple TV's See where vision becomes a heresy, discover non-human animals that also rely on culture and enjoy the International Space Station from your own home

Tom Gauld’s science cartoons appear weekly in New Scientist. He explains how he gets his ideas as his latest collection, Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, hits the shelves

Skeletal markings show that some women who lived on the Mongolian steppe 1850 years ago appear to have been warriors, perhaps providing inspiration for the famous Ballad of Mulan

Watch Netflix's Absurd Planet explore weird animals, discover the powerful chemical industry and create dance using a choreographer’s motion-capture moves

N. K. Jemisin's latest book sees New York itself come alive to fight off aliens in the first part of a new trilogy with ethnicity at its heart

Thinking of the brain as a machine may be hampering our progress in understanding how it works, says The Idea of the Brain: A history by Matthew Cobb

You don't need eggs to make meringues, pancakes and a host of other baked goods. If you know the science behind it, there are ingredients such as aquafaba that can do the same job

In Altered Carbon’s version of the future, our identities are stored in chips and can be switched between bodies. The first series was a hoot. The second, however, is a bit too earnest, says Emily Wilson

There's been a surge in people wanting to grow fruit and vegetables, but the path to self-sufficiency isn't as easy as some may have you think, writes James Wong