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4 sinister threats that loom for the cashless society
Increasing reliance on electronic payment creates dangers for consumer protection, privacy, political interference and competition, says Jem Bendell

Good looking: Keep moving if you want to keep seeing
One of the many benefits of exercising is that it helps to protect against various forms of blindness as we get older

After ISIS storms Palmyra, race is on to log global heritage
Ancient buildings are sitting ducks in war. But efforts are growing to preserve them digitally in case disaster strikes, says Emma Cunliffe

Life at Faulty Towers carries on despite being deep underwater
More than 2 kilometres underwater, this towering array of natural chimneys, known as black smokers, spews out mineral-rich superheated water, nurturing life

We must put the brakes on glaciers to stop the seas rising
The public may balk at geoengineering, but we’ve got to think boldly if we’re going to protect our coasts, says glaciologist Slawek Tulaczyk

North American ragweed to bring autumn allergy misery to Europe
Ragweed pollen is the bane of many lives in the US, and climate change could help the plant become much more common in Europe by 2050

Good looking: Video games that can help you see better
Playing shoot ’em ups has a surprising benefit – it can train your brain to sharpen your vision

How to Clone a Mammoth: But should we?
With the science nearly upon us, a new book highlights the ethical and logistical issues of bringing back proxies of extinct animals such as the woolly mammoth

Forget colour overlays – dyslexia is not a vision problem
The popular belief that dyslexia is caused by sight problems has been blown out of the water by a study of 6000 school children. So what does cause it?

Methane apocalypse? Defusing the Arctic’s time bomb
Do the huge craters pockmarking Siberia herald a release of underground methane that could exceed our worst climate change fears?

Cuckoos against the clock: Charming cheats in mystery decline
Their evolutionary arms race is a wonder to behold, but the UK’s cuckoos are vanishing at an alarming rate, says zoologist Nick Davies

Getting an insight into Einstein’s worlds
From a row about time to a bad paper on black holes, there’s lots to learn about Einstein from a clutch of books published at the centenary of general relativity

No rest for the Arctic: As big oil pulls out, military muscles in
When oil prices crashed, ecologists hoped the Arctic would get some breathing space. Instead, the military occupied this pristine wilderness, says Fred Pearce

Good looking: Super lens implants are going mainstream
Novel kinds of artificial eye lenses are allowing both the short-sighted and long-sighted to see fine without glasses, even for reading

Einstein and Schrödinger: The price of fame
From personal feuds to fruitless quests to overhaul quantum theory, the two physics legends fought hard to maintain their fame, argues a new book

Inside Obama’s plan to use open data to curb police brutality
The relationship between US law enforcers and the communities they protect is broken, but data can be used to repair that trust

Good looking: Phone screens that do the focusing for you
Put away those reading glasses. A new type of screen will make any page look just right for your eyes

Santa Barbara’s oil-slicked waters
A clean-up is under way on California’s coastline, following an oil spillage on Tuesday that threatens the area’s wildlife

US SPACE Act extends easy ride for commercial space ventures
The House of Representatives has voted to exempt the fledgling space industry from much regulation for 10 more years, but critics say it doesn’t protect passengers