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Thousands of ‘overlooked’ Brits urged to claim new £150 energy payment - check eligibility



The energy bill support has been described as a "crucial lifeline" for certain individuals who are often "overlooked".




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Only one man can save us from Ed Miliband before he wrecks UK economy



Chancellor Rachel Reeves has torpedoed the UK's economic recovery with her tax-and-spend Budget but Ed Miliband is the one who worries me.




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Food price inflation rises again as Britons rush to supermarkets in Christmas countdown



October marked the "biggest" sales month for supermarkets in the UK so far despite food price hikes.




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Martin Lewis issues warning to anyone with a Tesco Clubcard as £18m savings at risk



Martin Lewis has warned Tesco customers of a piece of small print that could see £18m worth of Clubcard points wasted.




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Welcome to the New Scientist Book Club

Find out what we're currently reading in the New Scientist Book Club - and catch up on all the great books we've already explored




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Could we take the entire solar system on a voyage through space?

To transport our planet across the universe, we would need to bring the whole solar system to sustain life on Earth – on this episode of Dead Planets Society, our hosts contemplate how to shepherd all that baggage on this scenic journey




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Could Mars become habitable with the help of glitter-like iron rods?

If we want to terraform the Red Planet to make it better able to host microbial life, tiny rods of iron and aluminium may be the answer




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Two NASA astronauts may be stuck on the space station until February

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft had so many problems during its first crewed launch to the International Space Station that NASA officials aren’t sure whether it will be able to bring its crew back home as planned




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Banana-shaped galaxies are helping unpeel the mysteries of dark matter

Astronomers have been spotting strange banana-shaped galaxies and the evidence seems to indicate that filaments of dark matter make them take this shape




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A black hole devouring a giant star gives clues to a cosmic mystery

In the centre of a distant galaxy, a supermassive black hole has swallowed up a star 9 times the sun’s mass in the biggest and brightest such cosmic meal we’ve ever seen




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Inside NASA’s ambitious plan to bring the ISS crashing back to Earth

The International Space Station will burn up and splash down into the Pacific sometime around 2030. What could possibly go wrong? And will we ever see anything like the ISS again?




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The JUICE spacecraft may be visible on a near-Earth flyby next week

On 19 and 20 August, the JUICE mission will make the first ever attempt to get a gravitational boost from both Earth and the moon on its way to Jupiter




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We keep finding water on Mars – here are all the places it might be

Researchers recently found a possible reservoir of liquid water more than 11 kilometres below Mars's surface – the latest in a long series of potential water discoveries on the Red Planet, hinting at its temperate past




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Hellish conditions have warped an Earth-like planet into an egg

Planets that orbit close to their parent stars are blasted with radiation and contorted by gravity – and the exoplanet TOI-6255b might be the most extreme example yet




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Lightning can make energy waves that travel shockingly far into space

Lightning strikes near Earth give rise to electromagnetic waves called “whistlers” that can carry energy high enough above our planet to pose a risk to satellites and astronauts




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Sam Howell: ‘One day we might look for life directly on Europa’

Sam Howell tells New Scientist why NASA is so keen to visit Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, Europa, and how the mission could help us figure out the likelihood of life elsewhere in the cosmos




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New Scientist recommends multiverse thriller Dark Matter

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week




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A giant wave in the Milky Way may have been created by another galaxy

Astronomers have identified patterns within the motion of stars stretching across the Milky Way, hinting at the presence of a vast wave




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Starlink tests show how to save radio astronomy from satellites

Radio astronomers teamed up with SpaceX to find a promising solution for helping expensive telescopes avoid interference from thousands of Starlink satellites




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Our galaxy may host strange black holes born just after the big bang

The Milky Way may be home to strange black holes from the first moments of the universe, and the best candidates are the three closest black holes to Earth




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Why NASA is sending a probe to Europa – and what it’s looking for

Past observations have indicated that the icy moon of Jupiter has a vast subsurface ocean. Launching in October, NASA’s Europa Clipper will go there in search of evidence that it could support life




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SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew set to attempt the riskiest spacewalk yet

The Polaris Dawn mission will include the first ever civilian spacewalk, and with a new spacesuit and no airlock, it may also be the most dangerous spacewalk ever




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Dark matter could be hiding inside strange failed stars

Brown dwarfs could be hiding dark matter inside their cores – if they are, there would be signs that could help us track it down




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Huge asteroid impact may have knocked over Jupiter's largest moon

Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, has signs of an enormous ancient impact that would have redistributed its mass, changing its orientation in relation to Jupiter




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The Starliner stranding shows why NASA was wise to have a backup plan

Space missions are extremely hard. Things going wrong should be expected, so having a sensible plan B is crucial




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We finally know exactly how dark deep space is

A faint glow from all of the galaxies that have ever existed fills the cosmos, and NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has made the best measurement ever of just how faint it is




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Two new books explore how UFOs captured the world’s imagination

Greg Eghigian's After the Flying Saucers Came and Luis Elizondo's Imminent both show how our fascination with UFOs goes beyond simple curiosity




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SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission blasts off for first civilian spacewalk

Four private astronauts are riding a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule further from Earth than any human since 1972, where they will attempt the first ever civilian spacewalk




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SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew complete 'stand-up' civilian spacewalk

A groundbreaking civilian spacewalk saw two astronauts partially exit a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule wearing a brand new design of spacesuit. Every previous spacewalk completed before this was performed by government-trained astronauts.




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Cloud atlas of Mars reveals an atmosphere unlike our own

Using images captured by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, researchers have created a cloud atlas of Mars, to better understand the climate of the Red Planet




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Dark matter may allow giant black holes to form in the early universe

The long-standing mystery of how supermassive black holes grew so huge so quickly could be solved by decaying dark matter




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Venus could be rocked by thousands of quakes every year

The second-closest planet to the sun is more geologically active than we thought and could have more than 17,000 venusquakes a year




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Black hole’s jets are so huge that they may shake up cosmology

Spanning 23 million light years, or 220 Milky Way galaxies, a set of giant, newly discovered black hole jets known as Porphyrion may change our understanding of black holes and the structure of the universe




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Search for alien transmissions in promising star system draws a blank

Astronomers listened for radio signals emanating from planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, but found no evidence of any interplanetary communications




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China's answer to SpaceX's Starlink is also threatening astronomy

The first 18 satellites of a planned Chinese mega constellation are brighter than all but 500 stars in the sky, raising fears of a huge impact on astronomy




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A dramatic return from space in Kazakhstan

Andrew McConnell's otherworldly photograph captures a Russian cosmonaut in front of the just-landed Soyuz MS spacecraft in Kazakhstan's remote grasslands




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The astrophysicist unravelling the origins of supermassive black holes

How did the supermassive black holes we’re now seeing in the early universe get so big so fast? Astrophysicist Sophie Koudmani is using sophisticated galaxy simulations to figure it out




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Starship: When will SpaceX's next 'chopstick' test flight go ahead?

SpaceX claims the fifth test flight of its Starship rocket will happen “within days”, but the Federal Aviation Administration has not yet approved the launch




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First breathtaking images from Euclid telescope's map of the universe

The Euclid space telescope's massive “cosmic atlas” promises to shed light on fundamental questions in physics and cosmology




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The first brown dwarf ever found was the strangest – now we know why

The first “failed star” ever discovered has been a weird outlier since it was found nearly 30 years ago. New observations show that it is unusually massive because it isn’t a single star after all




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What does it mean to “look” at a black hole?

General relativity teaches us that observing a black hole is all a question of perspective – and technique, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein




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Distant dwarf planet Makemake might have a surprising ice volcano

A small world in the outer solar system appears to have volcanic activity possibly spurred by liquid water




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What preparing for an asteroid strike teaches us about climate change

Averting an asteroid strike will need many of the same skills we must hone to tackle climate change and future pandemics




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SpaceX targets Starship flight next week – just a month after last one

SpaceX is preparing for the sixth test flight of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket. Next week's launch – if successful – will be the fastest turnaround yet




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Orbital wins the Booker prize: “I see it as a kind of space pastoral"

Samantha Harvey has won the UK's top fiction prize for a novel that takes place over 24 hours on the International Space Station




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A skilful primer makes sense of the mathematics beneath AI's hood

Anil Ananthaswamy's Why Machines Learn: The elegant maths behind modern AI explores the mechanics of the AI revolution, but doesn't examine its ethics




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Watch a robot peel a squash with human-like dexterity

A robot can hold a squash, pumpkin or melon in one hand, while it is peeled by the other




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AI can reveal what’s on your screen via signals leaking from cables

Electromagnetic radiation leaking from the cable between your computer and monitor can be intercepted and decoded by AI to reveal what you are looking at




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Social media companies change their policies in the wake of bad press

Between 2005 and 2021, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were more likely to make policy changes in the weeks after negative stories in the media




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Using an AI chatbot or voice assistant makes it harder to spot errors

Many people enjoy the experience of using AIs like ChatGPT or voice assistants like Alexa to find out information, but it turns out doing so makes it less likely you will spot inaccurate information