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Editor's picks

GPS satellite

Technology

GPS face-off: Why countries are vying to rule the skies with satnav

Health

A woman with half a brain offers more proof of the organ’s superpowers

faces

Humans

When a smile is not a smile 鈥� what our facial expressions really mean

Life

The smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossil that seemed too good to be true

deck of cards artwork

Physics

Your decision-making ability is a superpower physics can’t explain

Table of contents

Leaders

Health

A woman with half a brain offers more proof of the organ’s superpowers

From a teenager excelling with half a brain to the organ's visual areas being co-opted in people who are blind, our brain's ability to adapt continues to amaze

快猫短视频

Sterilisation efforts in Lianyungang, China

Health

How bad is the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak likely to get?

The death rate of Covid-19, caused by the new coronavirus, may be lower than some estimates suggest, but the number of cases may be much higher

Health

Coronavirus: How well prepared are countries for a covid-19 pandemic?

Health

We discovered a coronavirus similar to the covid-19 virus 7 years ago

Health

African nations step up efforts to prevent spread of coronavirus

Humans

Teen born without half her brain has above average reading skills

Physics

Photon trick lets you bend the rules of quantum physics

Technology

People will sell access to their fingerprints for just $7.56 a month

Health

CRISPR cancer trial finds that gene-edited immune cells are safe

Life

Watch this fish hop across the surface of water and climb on land

Technology

World鈥檚 largest ever firework successfully explodes over Colorado

Health

Some people have extremely sweaty palms – but spraying Botox may help

Health

Contact lens senses UV light to tell you when it’s time for sunscreen

Space

We鈥檝e finally spotted a pattern in mysterious radio blasts from space

Health

Yarn grown from human skin cells could be knitted into your body

Life

We鈥檝e found more than 2500 new viruses and some are unlike any we know

Environment

Climate change is killing off bumblebees in Europe and North America

Space

Pluto’s icy nitrogen heart makes its atmosphere spin backwards

Technology

A fingerprint can show if someone has taken cocaine or just touched it

Health

Overactive immune cells in babies may lead to childhood asthma

Life

Extinct date palms grown from 2000-year-old seeds found near Jerusalem

Analysis

Health

DNA firms are set to profit from your data as testing demand falls

23andMe and Ancestry are laying off staff as sales slump 鈥� but there鈥檚 plenty of profit to be made from their huge DNA databases

Technology

GPS face-off: Why countries are vying to rule the skies with satnav

Environment

We can鈥檛 let Boris Johnson politicise crucial COP26 climate talks

Humans

Election cyberattacks? It鈥檚 incompetence we need to worry about

Aperture

Environment

Fungi’s fabulous future in mental health and sustainable materials

These images showcase the incredible ways mushrooms can be used for everything from boosting well-being to fashioning baroque high heels

Features

deck of cards artwork

Physics

Your decision-making ability is a superpower physics can’t explain

In a universe that unthinkingly follows the rules, human agency is an anomaly. Can physics ever make sense of our power to change the physical world at will?

Life

The smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossil that seemed too good to be true

Humans

When a smile is not a smile 鈥� what our facial expressions really mean

Culture

Health

Drugs may be able to fix our romantic lives when things go wrong

Are we ready for real-life love potions? Book Love is the Drug explains how pills may affect everything from falling deeper in love to breaking up

Physics

Don’t miss: Emotional veg, antique innovations and spooky maths

Humans

Sci-fi podcast Down asks what’s really in the deepest holes on Earth

Humans

Color Out of Space: Another Nicolas Cage film that’s so bad it’s good

More

Tom Gauld on working as a theoretical scientist

Tom Gauld's weekly cartoon

Physics

Sixty years ago the world鈥檚 largest particle accelerator switched on

Humans

Umami: How to maximise the savoury taste that makes food so satisfying

Twisteddoodles has made a fantastic new discovery

Health

Why our understanding of concussion has been completely wrong

Regulars

The strange world of 6-dimensional eyebrow feathering

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

This Week鈥檚 Letters

This week’s new questions

Running on empty: Is runners’ second wind real?

Water effect: Why is it hard to put on gloves when your hands are wet?

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