This week's magazine
30 November 2024
Issue 3519
On the cover
Editor's picks
Table of contents
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Technology
AI simulations of 1000 people accurately replicate their behaviour
Using GPT-4o, the model behind ChatGPT, researchers have replicated the personality and behaviour of more than 1000 people, in an effort to create an alternative to focus groups and polling
Life
A sliver of lab-grown wood has been made from stem cells
Life
Nectar-loving Ethiopian wolves may be the first carnivore pollinators
Space
Meteorite crystals show evidence of hot water on ancient Mars
Space
We’ve taken a photo of a star in another galaxy for the first time
Technology
Quantum computers hit a crucial milestone for error-free calculation
Technology
Google DeepMind AI can expertly fix errors in quantum computers
Technology
IBM entangled two quantum chips to work together for the first time
Life
Chimpanzees seem to get more technologically advanced through culture
Space
Bacteria found in asteroid sample – but they’re not from space
Technology
Robotic pigeon reveals how birds fly without a vertical tail fin
Earth
We may have solved the mystery of what froze Earth’s inner core
Life
Wild cavefish can somehow survive with almost no sleep at all
Space
Einstein’s theories tested on the largest scale ever – he was right
Life
Heart-shaped mollusc has windows that work like fibre optics
Space
Being in space makes it harder for astronauts to think quickly
Life
A giant hornet from Asia has appeared in Europe for the first time
Space
Planet 10 times the size of Earth is one of the youngest ever found
Health
We’re starting to understand why some people regain weight they lost
Analysis
Features
Health
The radical treatments bringing people back from the brink of death
Reperfusion technologies that can reanimate human brains are raising the possibility that death could be a reversible condition, even hours after a cardiac arrest
Life
How a unique puppy kindergarten lab put the science into dog training
Physics
We may be about to solve the greatest riddle of electromagnetism
Culture
More
Technology
Don’t be fooled by Elon Musk’s chatty Optimus robots
The long history of robotics should teach us to be more sceptical when it comes to autonomous humanoid robots, says Nicole Kobie
Technology
The forgotten civil engineer with a vision we could all learn from
Life
Why surrounding your plants with crushed eggshells won’t deter slugs
Tom Gauld on an unexpected new stand-up comedian
Twisteddoodles on worm holes
Regulars
How to defeat wild emus – lessons from history
As two "feral and not trained" emus go on the lam in South Carolina, Feedback suggests that authorities read up on the war fought against wild emus by the Australians in 1932. They lost – but there may be some tips