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Radicalisation: A mental health issue, not a religious one
To understand the appeal of extremist ideologies we need to look beyond the usual explanations, says a professor of epidemiology

Artificial islands appear on reef in disputed sea
Satellite images capture a new chain of islands being built by China in an attempt to claim disputed waters

Fabric fights off fire and water at the same time
Flame-retardant fabrics normally degrade when washed, but a water-repelling coating could make your flame-proof suit or sofa self-cleaning

Control smartphones with a stroke of your hair
Hairware is a switch woven into hair extensions that can be used discreetly to activate apps

Would I have the genome of my baby sequenced?
Finding out your newborn’s genetic fate could soon be reality for parents. Helen Thomson looks at the moral dilemmas many of us may face

Pre-Inca canals may solve Lima’s water crisis
Restoring an ancient canal network could halve the Peruvian capital’s water deficit at a fraction of a cost of building a desalination plant

Changing China’s tastes could save world’s wildlife
Demand for ivory and shark fins may finally be falling, thanks to campaigns that directly target the consumers of illegally poached goods

Sparks of consciousness mapped in most detail yet
The hallmark of consciousness is a stable response to sensory input – a detailed look at this signature could be used to gauge a person’s level of awareness

Sexy men make others take bigger risks with money
Watch out. Men might be tricked into taking risky bets when they are shown images of men they view as more attractive than themselves

ISIS tweets reveal how the group rules its territories
A close look at ISIS-affiliated Twitter accounts is giving us an insight into how the group governs the territories it has conquered – and throwing up some surprises

Quantum purity: How the big picture banishes weirdness
Nobody really understands the quantum world. But a change of perspective might be all we need to make sense of it – and get to the theory of everything

Face transplant fixes dangerous knot of blood vessels
An intricate knot of malformed blood vessels put this man’s life at risk until a 27-hour-long operation gave him a brand new face

Baby genes to be mapped at birth in medical first
Could genome sequencing newborns give valuable insight or do harm? That’s the question US doctors are trying to answer in a pioneering trial starting this month