This week's magazine
28 October 2023
Issue 3462
On the cover
Editor's picks
Health
Your ultimate guide to ultra-processed food – how bad is it really?
Physics
Is space-time quantum? Six ways to unpick the fabric of the universe
Environment
How countries can go fossil fuel free with wind and solar superpowers
Physics
The physicist trying to create space-time from scratch
Table of contents
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ
Humans
Humans caught more diseases after we domesticated animals
Analysis of DNA from human remains up to 37,000 years old shows that more infectious diseases jumped from animals to people after the dawn of farming
Life
Why birds’ eyes can be blue, green, pink or orange
Space
Oddly bright burst may mean space is more transparent than we thought
Environment
Pink river dolphins are dying from extreme heat in the Amazon
Space
The moon is 40 million years older than we thought it was
Technology
Mysterious rotation trick makes magnets float in the air
Life
Vegan cheese made from fermented peas could taste more like dairy
Environment
Climate change will prompt expansion of farming in northern wilderness
Health
Schools cut covid-19 sick days by 20 per cent using HEPA air filters
Technology
IBM’s brain-inspired chip could be the fastest at running AI yet
Physics
Sperm caught breaking Newton’s third law of motion
Mind
We forget details when our brain picks the wrong thing to remember
Life
Emergence of huge cicada generation in 2021 led to a caterpillar boom
Technology
Hundreds of chatbots could show us how to make social media less toxic
Physics
Strange upward lightning shoots out X-rays as it rises to the clouds
Technology
Tiniest particle accelerator is so small it could fit into a pen tip
Health
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµs can communicate with people while they are asleep
Space
A blast of radio waves hit Earth after travelling for 8 billion years
Health
Bird flu now sweeping the world evolved in Europe and Africa
Environment
Warm seas blamed for the disappearance of 10 billion snow crabs
Health
Hitting the snooze button on your alarm doesn’t make you more tired
Analysis
Features
Physics
The physicist trying to create space-time from scratch
Monika Schleier-Smith is testing the idea that space-time emerges, like a hologram, from quantum interactions by attempting to make it in the lab
Physics
Is space-time quantum? Six ways to unpick the fabric of the universe
Environment
How countries can go fossil fuel free with wind and solar superpowers
Health
Your ultimate guide to ultra-processed food – how bad is it really?
Culture
Comment
Eve review: Why women’s bodies belong at the heart of human evolution
From sexism's "benefits" to mothers' role in creating culture, Cat Bohannon rethinks the role of women in Eve: How the female body drove 200 million years of human evolution
Comment
White Holes review: Extreme physics from Carlo Rovelli
Comment
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ recommends Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Opticks
Comment
Lessons in Chemistry review: TV show delivers – just stay with it
More
Mathematics
How spiral search patterns and lateral thinking cracked our puzzle
Rob Eastaway and Brian Hobbs take over our maths column to reveal who solved their puzzle and won a copy of their ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ puzzle book, Headscratchers
Tom Gauld: Stay safe this Halloween with our helpful diagram
Twisteddoodles: The figure in white moaned…
Regulars
Stereotype-busting study finds gamers are actually all pretty jolly
Thanks to some researchers in Portugal, Feedback discovers that gamers aren't, in fact, miserably mainlining junk food - but they may be staying up a bit too late