Science
How baby microbiomes in the West differ from those everywhere else
Babies in the West commonly lack a gut microbe that is found in infants in other parts of the world, which may...
Ultramarathons could be bad for your blood
Running 170 kilometres over mountainous terrain caused people's red blood cells to accumulate more age-related...
Dream hacking helps people solve complex problems in their sleep
Hearing a sound while working on a complex puzzle, and then hearing it again during sleep, helped lucid dreame...
Giant viruses may be more alive than we thought
A giant virus encodes part of the protein-making toolkit of cells that gives it greater control over its amoeb...
We’ve glimpsed before the big bang and it’s not what we expected
The big bang wasn’t the start of everything, but it has been impossible to see what came before. Now a new kin...
The mystery of nuclear 'magic numbers' has finally been resolved
A mathematical equivalent of a microscope with variable resolution has shed light on why some atoms are except...
Backwards heat shows laws of thermodynamics may need a quantum update
We are used to heat flowing from hot objects to cool ones, and never the other way round, but now researchers...
Intermittent fasting probably doesn’t help with weight loss
Intermittent fasting appears to be no better than doing nothing when it comes to helping people who are overwe...
Putting a price tag on nature failed. Can radical tactics save it?
Biologists have long thought that speaking to nature’s economic value would persuade boardrooms it was worth s...
Why adding cross training into your exercise routine is the way to go
There are huge benefits to ringing the changes when it comes to exercise, finds committed runner Grace Wade wh...
Exploring sci-fi treats from George Saunders and Matthew Kressel
In George Saunders's Vigil, a ghost visits Earth to help a dying oil tycoon, while terraforming efforts on Mar...
Your BMI can't tell you much about your health – here's what can
People classed as “overweight” according to BMI can be perfectly healthy. But there are better measures of fat...
Weird inside-out planet system may have formed one world at a time
The planets around a nearby star seem to be in the wrong order, hinting that they formed through a different m...
Gene editing that spreads within the body could cure more diseases
The idea of self-amplifying gene editing is to get cells to pass on packages of CRISPR machinery to their neig...
Why I'm still an environmental optimist – despite it all
It's hard not to despair about the state of the world today, but here are five reasons to be a little bit hope...
What to read this week: Bonded by Evolution by Paul Eastwick
We are told we need cynical strategies to "play" the dating game, but the science says this is totally wrong....
Newborn marsupials seen crawling to mother's pouch for the first time
Scientists have captured remarkable footage of the young of a mouse-sized marsupial, called a fat-tailed dunna...
Which humans first made tools or art – and how do we know?
Building the human story based on a few artefacts is tricky – particularly for wooden tools that don’t preserv...