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Why do we have big brains? Or walk on two legs? Biological anthropologist and broadcaster Alice Roberts talks human exceptionalism, evolution and her new book Humans with Michael Marshall

Giulia Enders made her name with Gut, an exploration of our intestines. Now, in the compelling follow-up Organ Speak, she’s listening to what our other organs are telling us

A multi-year survey of millions of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud shows that the dwarf galaxy is expanding rather than rotating. This is due to the influence of its larger neighbour, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Mark Thomson has taken the reins at CERN just as particle physics confronts some of its deepest unknowns – and faces hard choices about what comes next

A circle running along the 27° east and 153° west meridians divides the globe into two halves with equal reflectivity – and this may have implications for solar geoengineering schemes

June's night sky delivers several must-see events, starting with a close encounter between Venus and Jupiter after sunset. Mercury joins the pair to form a rare three-planet lineup, while the Moon puts on a special show by passing in front of Venus for viewers in parts of the Americas. The month also marks the start of astronomical summer and the return of spectacular deep-sky targets like the Ring Nebula and Veil Nebula.

The early Universe is full of massive galaxies that stopped forming stars very early. They're called massive quenchers (MQ) and they're challenging to explain. New research shows that another type of galaxy, dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) can explain why. It's all about mergers, starbursts, and AGN feedback.

A UN report warns of the rapid growth in AI energy consumption, but suggests users can improve efficiency by making prompts more concise

A quantum computer made from extremely cold atoms can correct its own errors during long computations, an important prerequisite for becoming truly useful

Astronomers studying wind speeds on distant exoplanets have discovered weather systems driven by magnetic fields, rather than the largely hydrodynamic weather patterns observed on Earth. This discovery is among the best evidence yet for the existence of magnetic fields on exoplanets.

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recreated part of the intense chaos inside a nuclear fireball to better understand how radioactive fallout forms. Their experiments revealed that the way vaporized materials cool can dramatically change the particles that eventually form, especially for volatile elements like cesium.

The new Jesus and Mo strip, called “butt2,” is, as the caption say, “A resurrection from 2006 – Ganesh’s debut appearance in the strip.”

And it has a pretty bad pun!

The strength of gravity is different on every body in the solar system. Whether it's the crushing weight of Jupiter or the miniscule pull of a small asteroid, this fundamental force of physics still has a major impact on the material those bodies are made up of. A new paper from researchers at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) showcases just how different it can be by letting planetary simulants freefall inside a giant drop tower and measuring how “fluffy” the space dirt got.

Restricting carbohydrates may sound like an unlikely approach to treating anorexia, but following a ketogenic diet was linked to recovery in 3 in 4 people with the eating disorder in a small trial

Researchers discovered a way to reverse the direction of energy flow in turbulence, challenging a theory that has stood for more than 80 years. The finding could open new possibilities for controlling ocean currents, improving medical technologies, and enhancing climate forecasting.

For my entire career as a neurologist the ability to repair an injured spinal cord has been one of the holy grails. There has always been promising new research that definitely increases our knowledge but doesn’t lead to an effective treatment. This is not for lack of trying – I also remember the period when Christopher Reeve was a tireless promoter of […]

The post In Animal Study, Nanobots Repair Spinal Cords first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Researchers studying a 5300-year-old mummified man have identified bacteria that lived in his gut when he was alive, as well as cold-tolerant fungi that colonised his body after death

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is assessing damage to its launch pad after a rocket exploded during a test firing, creating a giant orange fireball seen and felt for miles around.

Galactic collisions are events of breathtaking proportions. The Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) at their centers plunge into a chaotic orbital dance that eventually coalesce into a single remnant. On their way to that point, they could eventually get “kicked” out of the center of their galaxy - and finding these “recoiling” black holes has been a challenge of cosmology for decades. A new paper, available on arXiv by an international team, used a novel idea to track down these fast-moving behemoths.

The prototype ngVLA antenna tested its systems by observing and tracking the Crab Nebula, also known as Taurus A (3C144), the remnant of an exploded star.