A general election in Brazil next month is widely seen as a choice between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro

Uncertainty about when or even if the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a vital ocean current, might collapse has been an excuse to ignore the risk, but that actually makes it even more important that we act now

Advice about mindful eating, enjoying exercise and getting good-quality sleep was at least as effective for treating depression as cognitive behavioural therapy

An unprecedented meningitis outbreak that occurred in Kent, UK, in March seems to have been driven by a bacterial strain taking genes from harmless microbes

Grim warnings of the existential risk posed by AI are all over the news, but there is very little evidence to back them up

Higher temperatures around the world due to the record-breaking El Niño will lead to an estimated 450,000 extra deaths by February unless swift action is taken, warn researchers

An amoeba living in a Californian hot spring is thriving above 60°C, a threshold previously thought deadly to complex life

Children as young as 8 in the US are being prescribed off-label GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, sparking debate about the potential long-term health effects

Commentators say the probability of machines wiping us out ranges from 0 to over 95 per cent. Columnist Jacob Aron explains why you shouldn't trust any of those numbers

According to Newton’s third law, all actions are paired with reciprocal reactions. But breaking this principle allowed an artificial swimmer to move upstream in a quantum stream of light

According to Newton’s third law, all actions are paired with reciprocal reactions. But breaking this principle allowed an artificial swimmer to move upstream in a quantum stream of light

Following the possible recent detection of a dark matter particle, researchers have already come up with a veritable cornucopia of possible models for what sort of particle it might have been

The theoretical physicist and New Scientist columnist talks to Alison Flood about her new book, The Edge of Space-Time - the September read for the New Scientist Book Club

A new twist on nuclear fusion ignition emitted X-rays that are as bright as some stars, which could enable other extreme experiments

The most precise calculation yet of the electroweak force could help fix cracks in the standard model of particle physics

A second dimension of time has long seemed wholly incompatible with reality. But fresh insights involving black holes and quantum mechanics suggest it deserves another look

Particle collisions are inherently quantum, but much of that character is lost when we turn them into classical data. Sarah Alam Malik explores whether preserving more of it could help us spot signs of dark matter and other new physics

It is only natural to view the world, or even the entire universe, through the lens of humanity – we’re human, after all. But columnist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein says we can appreciate the wonder of the cosmos without inserting ourselves as a main character

Quantum theory says a vacuum isn’t truly empty, but proving it directly has remained out of reach. A new experiment using immensely powerful lasers could finally expose its hidden structure – and perhaps offer clues to dark matter

From manifest time to the quantum arrow of time and time travel, Jim Al-Khalili explores one of the biggest unsolved problems in modern physics

Philosophers have pondered whether we live in a simulation for centuries. Now, Astronomer Royal for Scotland Catherine Heymans suggests a compelling rationale for why our reality might actually be synthetic

Starship's next test flight will be its first orbital mission. The craft will also release working Starlink V3 satellites for the first time, making the flight the first commercially useful Starship mission

Stunning pictures of nebulae, stars, the moon and more took top prizes in this year's astrophotography competition, organised by the Royal Observatory in London

Researchers have watched a huge crater form on the lunar surface, and its widespread effects could help inform future exploration of the moon and other similar places

Space scientist Maggie Aderin tells Karmela Padavic-Callaghan about these stunning photographs from the James Webb Space Telescope, which feature in her new book

Crushing water to pressures in the millions of atmospheres has revealed two strange types of ice, which may form deep inside Neptune and Uranus

The sun and moon are positioned just right for us to see total solar eclipses, and the make-up of the universe is just right for life. Columnist Leah Crane wonders if it’s really all one big coincidence

A group of astronomers proposes that a series of events in a distant galaxy formed both a black hole and a pulsar, but other experts say the conclusion is premature

The upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory should be able to spot the glint of water on habitable planets, and maybe more

The James Webb Space Telescope seems to have discovered more ancient black holes than theory had predicted, and now we have a new way to explain why

Grim warnings of the existential risk posed by AI are all over the news, but there is very little evidence to back them up

Commentators say the probability of machines wiping us out ranges from 0 to over 95 per cent. Columnist Jacob Aron explains why you shouldn't trust any of those numbers

Earlier this month, the Ukrainian Navy used an uncrewed vessel to attack and sink an uncrewed naval robot operated by Russian forces

Determining how useful different quantum computers are has been a long running challenge – now researchers appear to have the answer

Ukraine is racing to design faster, more capable interceptor drones to tackle Russia's new generation of jet-powered Shahed attack drones

AI experts put the chance of models rising up and killing us all at greater than 10 per cent – but are the risks real? And can anything be done if they are?

Elon Musk firm’s Colossus 2 data centre – the largest in the US – has been spewing out nitrogen oxide emissions from trailer-mounted gas turbines, an analysis suggests

After months covering the shocking rise of AI mathematics, reporter Matthew Sparkes decided to put a free chatbot to the test – and was shocked at the speed at which it solved an outstanding problem

Foreign states and technology firms are scrambling for data from the Ukraine war so they can train the next-generation of AI models that might be used in defence and national security

Advice about mindful eating, enjoying exercise and getting good-quality sleep was at least as effective for treating depression as cognitive behavioural therapy

An unprecedented meningitis outbreak that occurred in Kent, UK, in March seems to have been driven by a bacterial strain taking genes from harmless microbes

Children as young as 8 in the US are being prescribed off-label GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, sparking debate about the potential long-term health effects

Just a couple of minutes of walking around or stretching every hour can improve memory and attention span

Recent progress on alternatives to animal testing is hugely welcome. But talk of "phasing out" animal research completely is misleading and could even be dangerous to scientists

The wellness boom has brought a wide array of consumer products that promise to boost your health and happiness. Xand van Tulleken has delved into it all and explains how to think about the evidence behind the hype 

Scientists can now get more accurate safety data by testing drugs on organ-on-a-chip devices and organoids, meaning that there's increasingly less need to harm animals

The psychedelic drug LSD eased anxiety in a late-stage trial, paving the way for a probable approval in the US within the next two years

An influx of immune cells into the uterus may be what initiates childbirth. These grab on to muscle cells via tiny tubes and send across mitochondria to provide energy for contractions

The human brain flushes out waste products while we sleep and now it seems that certain sounds might enhance the process

As the world warms, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are escaping from frozen sediments. But with new monitoring tools, we can identify problem genes and develop treatments before our pathogens acquire them

An amoeba living in a Californian hot spring is thriving above 60°C, a threshold previously thought deadly to complex life

Henley Spiers took the top award in the annual contest, with shots of guillemots, penguins and a protective tawny frogmouth also in the running for the prize

The fish that preceded the first four-legged land animals came in a wider variety of forms than we had thought, and fossils show that one had an elbow joint that moved in an oddly restrictive way

The enigmatic tiger cats of South America now encompass a new species – the tilcayo – bringing the number of known tiger cat species to five

Analysis of the chemistry of ancient T. rex tooth enamel adds weight to the idea that the fierce Cretaceous predator controlled its body temperature

For the first time, researchers have seen a humpback mother interacting with her stillborn calf, reporting that she stayed close to it for at least two days

Adult chimpanzees have been observed passing tools to their younger relatives, helping them learn the skills needed for fishing for ants or algae

How do you get the science right in a sci-fi book? Columnist Annalee Newitz started by asking many kinds of researchers lots of very strange questions – and ended up in love with slime moulds

An analysis of data collected from hundreds of thousands of cars in Australia offers an insight into driving behaviour that can be used to identify sections of road where crashes may occur in the future