New Scientist

New Scientist covers the latest developments in science and technology that will impact your world. New Scientist employs and commissions the best writers in their fields from all over the world. Our editorial team provide cutting-edge news, award-winning features and reports, written in concise and clear language that puts discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life today and in the future.

Elsewhere on New Scientist

Scare stories for a new audience • As cancer cases rise in younger people, we need solid science, not online speculation

New Scientist

A shadow selfie on the lunar surface

Rules of time and space torn up • New insights into how long a computation takes relative to the amount of memory it requires have shocked scientists, reports Matthew Sparkes

Shrinking space

Ancient Roman’s brain exploded and turned to glass when Vesuvius blew

Dirtier spacecraft may help keep astronauts healthy

Analysis Health • Does eating dairy really reduce the risk of colorectal cancer? There appears to be a link between dairy consumption and bowel cancer, but the true relationship is hard to untangle, finds Chris Simms

The first water may have formed surprisingly early

Stone tools are secret to monkeys’ success

Throwing spears got an early start • Spears from 300,000 years ago may have been used as projectiles, not just for close-range attacks

Knittable computer could make clothes to track your health

‘Galloping’ bubbles could act as tiny vacuum cleaners

Vital ocean current is unlikely to completely shut down this century

Strange fractal ‘butterfly’ caught for the first time

When were the first houses with corners built?

Modern life doesn’t harm your sleep • People in industrialised societies actually seem to snooze for longer than hunter-gatherers

Deep-sea life is still recovering from mining 40 years ago

See you in court! • Our current justice system won’t save island nations like mine – that’s why we need a global environmental court, says Anthony Carmona

This changes everything • The trouble with Moore’s law Back in the 1960s, it seemed like better communications could solve all our problems. Don’t blame technology for the failure of that dream, says Annalee Newitz

Spacebound

Parenting to perfection • Flimsy neuroscience is creating a culture that pushes parents to optimise their child’s brain. Penny Sarchet welcomes a critique of “intensive mothering”

New Scientist recommends

The TV column • After David Lynch The death of someone who shaped decades of film and TV is bound to hurt. Rediscovering a show called The OA helps, with its Twin Peaks-style echoes of small-town US and other Lynchian themes, finds Bethan Ackerley

Your letters

The dark energy illusion • A new conception of how time varies across the universe suggests we can get rid of cosmology’s most mysterious entity, says Stuart Clark

The truth about blue zones • We have long looked to regions with a high proportion of centenarians for tips on how to live a long and healthy life – but do these blue zones actually exist, asks Helen Thomson

HUNTING FOR THE OLDEST CODE • Ancient computer code may still underpin the software used by banks and the space industry. Why does old code stick around and what happens when it glitches? Matthew Sparkes investigates

Cancer’s low blow • As rates of colorectal cancer rise in younger people, could a perfect storm of lifestyle and environmental factors be to blame? Graham Lawton investigates

Possible signs of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer risk on the rise

Guiding light • How do you tell a planet from a star – or one planet from another? Leah Crane shares...