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A reader is worried about socialising without the confidence boost she gets from alcohol. But studies show that the chemical isn’t necessary for easing our social inhibitions, our columnist David Robson advises

After delays and false starts, Jeff Bezos's firm Blue Origin has reached orbit with its first launch of the New Glenn rocket, though attempts to land the first stage at sea were unsuccessful

An AI trained on motion capture recordings can help robots smoothly imitate human actions, such as dancing, walking and throwing punches

Rebutting the serotonin theory of depression exposed an important gap in our knowledge. But Joanna Moncrieff's new book Chemically Imbalanced takes too narrow a view of how we should react

Neolithic people buried hundreds of stones carved with images of the sun about 4900 years ago and they may have done it because a volcanic eruption covered the sky

The shipping industry is planning to swap some fossil fuels for green ammonia – but that could create a major new source of nitrogen pollution

Most people don’t adhere to their New Year’s fitness resolutions. These science-backed tips can make you the exception

At his best, Iain M. Banks could be extraordinarily stylish, inventive and downright funny. So how does his genre-redefining science fiction stand up to the test of time? Emily H. Wilson rereads the greats

From windswept craters to frigid ice caps, explore Martian landscapes through the eyes of NASA’s orbiters, probes and rovers

Neurologist Adam Zeman's excellent exploration of the power and complexity of our imaginations literally needs more space to house all its riches

Our Future Chronicles column explores an imagined history of inventions and developments yet to come. In its latest instalment, Rowan Hooper reveals how by 2029, we had learned how to make synthetic spider silk, leading to a revolution in clothing

Feedback explores the upsides (and downsides) of Publish or Perish, a game that simulates the experience of building a career in scientific research

This month marks a year since the malaria vaccine rollout began. Here's what we still need in order to beat a disease as old as ancient Egypt, says Azra Ghani

A series of events, from the California wildfires to evidence we passed 1.5 degrees last year, suggests wild weather will become even more common

Genetic evidence from Iron Age Britain shows that women tended to stay within their ancestral communities, suggesting that social networks revolved around women

Scientists are scrambling to understand how climate change may be interfering with the winds that carry our weather, with potentially catastrophic consequences

The Chinese social media apps Red Note and Lemon8 have become popular alternatives for TikTok users ahead of a US government ban on TikTok. But government restrictions loom over those apps too

Middle-aged mice fed golden oyster mushrooms had healthier hearts, suggesting an antioxidant in the fungi protects against the effects of ageing

A newly discovered neutron star is behaving so strangely that it may alter our understanding of the dense remains left behind when stellar objects die

Obesity is typically assessed by measuring someone's body mass index, but now researchers are calling for a more nuanced approach that could help with treatment