New Scientist

In this week’s issue: Solving the fundamental mystery of how reality is glued together, plug-in solar pros and cons and the weird physics of plant-based milks. Grab a copy in shops now or download our app for digital editions. newscientist.com/issue/3590/

Amplifying the brain's waste disposal system seems to clear a substance that drives migraines, relieving some of the pain associated with the condition #Echobox=1775956568" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252215…

Some cats will suddenly refuse to touch brands of cat food that they have eaten for years. Changing the way the food smells might solve the problem #Echobox=1775959152" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252278…

Tiny fossils hidden inside solid rock offer a glimpse of ocean life before the second most severe mass extinction. The ancient plankton show that life was thriving just before the Late Ordovician extinction 445 million years ago. #Echobox=1775950501" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252273…

Cornish sea salt crystals, pink Himalayan rock salt, smoked salt flakes – the use of gourmet salts is on the rise. But columnist Alice Klein finds it may be leading to a resurgence in iodine deficiency, with harmful consequences #Echobox=1775831572-3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252009…

No matter where you get your food from, a good chunk of your diet is ultimately reliant on fossil fuels. We already need to change this to tackle climate change, but the Iran war and resulting oil shortage is showing the urgent need to rethink food #Echobox=1775950500" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252161…

The muon collider was once dismissed as impossible, but is now gaining steam as the successor to the Large Hadron Collider. If built, it could offer a new window to reality #Echobox=1775950501" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/251902…

Measurements by buoys at four latitudes in the western Atlantic provide the strongest evidence yet that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is weakening #Echobox=1775955263" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252246…

Ducks with corkscrew penises, fish changing sex – what do we really know about sex and reproduction on Earth? Less than we think, reveals a mind-boggling new book. Elle Hunt explores #Echobox=1775953574" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252137…

Working in secret for more than two years, a group of mathematicians has set out to resolve of the longest and most bitter battles in modern mathematics #Echobox=1775943608" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252268…

Plug-in solar panels are a cheaper, simpler alternative to professionally installed panels. But can they really reduce energy bills and are they safe? Matthew Sparkes investigates #Echobox=1775940863" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252074…

For decades, scientists have tried and failed to explain how the force that binds the heart of atoms together really works. But new mathematical tools are finally prising the problem open #Echobox=1775921111" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252057…

The immune system going rogue and attacking healthy tissue seems to behind some cases of long covid, a discovery that could open doors towards treatments #Echobox=1775929244" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252147…

James Watson’s The Double Helix is probably one of the greatest science books of all time – but Michael Le Page finds he can’t recommend that anyone actually reads it #Echobox=1775932888" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/251988…

The incompleteness theorem is accepted as part of the mathematical canon today, but columnist Jacob Aron says it was a bombshell when Kurt Gödel first introduced it. Gödel’s seminal work directly contradicted one of the great minds of mathematics and ... #Echobox=1775932888" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252229…

A decline in ancient megafauna in the Middle East coincided with a shift towards smaller, lighter toolkits in the archaeological record – though scientists are still in debate about why #Echobox=1775929244" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252242…

Two of the forefathers of quantum theory, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, had a famous argument over whether light is a wave or a particle. Columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan finds that the matter has been settled once and for all #Echobox=1775831460-3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252210…

By tracing the origins of an unusual, short-lived particle, researchers have gathered some of the strongest evidence yet that mass can emerge from fluctuations in the vacuum #Echobox=1775921112" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252232…

This is the opening of Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, the New Scientist Book Club read for April, as humans come to the planet to settle it #Echobox=1775914312" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252029…

A fossil bed in China containing animals up to 554 million years old suggests that we may have to reconsider the idea that life suddenly diversified during the Cambrian explosion #Echobox=1775925043" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252198…

April has a lot to offer when it comes to popular science reading, promising to help us do everything from future-proof our brains courtesy of Hannah Critchlow, to get to grips with really big numbers, thanks to Richard Elwes #Echobox=1775918825" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newscientist.com/article/252171…