This week's magazine
21 September 2024
Issue 3509
On the cover
Editor's picks
Table of contents
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Environment
Weather forecasts could warn about events made worse by climate change
Thanks to advances in weather simulation, forecasts of heatwaves and hurricanes could soon come with information about the extent to which they were fuelled by climate change
Health
Evidence grows for dramatic brain remodelling during pregnancy
Technology
The deepfakes of Trump and Biden that you are most likely to fall for
Earth
Greenland landslide caused freak wave that shook Earth for nine days
Life
Cats have brain activity recorded with the help of crocheted hats
Space
Complex chemicals found on Enceladus improve prospects for life
Physics
Cause and effect may not actually be muddled in the quantum realm
Life
Tiny chameleon spotted by tourists in Madagascar is new to science
Environment
Another extreme low for Antarctic sea ice signals a permanent shift
Space
Astronomers worried by launch of five new super-bright satellites
Environment
Most cities are rainier than their surroundings due to heat and smog
Health
One dose of a smallpox vaccine still gives good protection for mpox
Space
Huge new volcano has burst through the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io
Environment
Mega El Niños may have played a part in the Permian mass extinction
Life
Ants change the way they build nests to stop diseases spreading
Humans
Genome of Neanderthal fossil reveals lost tribe cut off for millennia
Health
Chronic fatigue syndrome could be quickly diagnosed via a blood test
Life
Fish size themselves up in a mirror to decide if they can win a fight
Chemistry
Quantum experiment rewrites a century-old chemistry law
Features
Physics
Why the words we use in physics obscure the true nature of reality
Simple words like "force" and "particle" can mislead us as to what reality is actually like. Physicist Matt Strassler unpacks how to see things more clearly
Health
Snoring isn’t just a nuisance, it’s dangerous. Why can’t we treat it?
Technology
The AI expert who says artificial general intelligence is nonsense
Culture
Mathematics
Top statistician David Spiegelhalter on how to deal with uncertainty
David Spiegelhalter has spent his career crunching numbers to assess what may happen in the future. His thought-provoking new book gives readers a window into how they can apply this in their own lives
Comment
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ recommends the ‘surprisingly emotional’ Game of Sisyphus
Technology
Terminator is back, in a striking but flawed anime version
Health
How bad is modern life for our body clocks – and what can we do?
More
Society
A Declaration on Future Generations could bring the changes we need
Committing countries to safeguarding the needs and interests of the citizens of tomorrow, a new Declaration on Future Generations could be as transformational as 1948's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, says Thomas Hale, author of Long Problems
Physics
We physicists could learn a lot by stepping beyond our specialisms
Life
Is it really cheaper to cultivate your own fruit and vegetables?
Tom Gauld: ‘I prefer her earlier, funnier theories’
Twisteddoodles takes on the Ig Nobel prizes
Regulars
Ig Nobel prizes 2024: The unexpected science that won this year
From drunk worms to mammals that breath through their anuses, founder Marc Abrahams on the winners of this year's Ig Nobel prizes, for science that "makes people laugh, then think"