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Table of contents

Leaders

Society

What politicians so often get wrong about science

Governments love asking what scientific research will bring society, but the most important discoveries come from wondering without direction

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Environment

Aged human urine is a pungent pesticide as well as a fertiliser

Urine that has sat in the sun for a while seems to fertilise crops while warding off pests, without affecting the produce's taste

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Society

Are Trump's cuts to science the end of the endless frontier?

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Space

NASA cut $420 million for climate science, moon modelling and more

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Life

Cave spiders use their webs in a way that hasn't been seen before

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Physics

'Quantum Darwinism' may explain why we live in a shared reality

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Health

Weekend workouts can be as valuable as exercising throughout the week

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Life

Plant skin grafts could result in new kinds of vegetables

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Mind

The best retro games console is the one you played at age 10

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Space

We could make solar panels on the moon by melting lunar dust

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Health

Common artificial sweetener makes you three times hungrier than sugar

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Mind

Largest mammalian brain map ever could unpick what makes us human

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Life

Bonobos use a kind of syntax once thought to be unique to humans

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Humans

Mammoth tusk flakes may be the oldest ivory objects made by humans

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Comment

Kennedy has taken a sledgehammer to the US's public health

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Earth

Arabia has been green for long spells in the past 8 million years

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Life

Striking image shows giant hooded katydid hatchling perched on adult

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Analysis

Health

Do Ozempic and Wegovy really cause hair loss?

As semaglutide-based weight loss treatments such as Ozempic and Wegovy become more popular, new side effects are emerging – and one is hair loss

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Environment

Wind farm developers are worried about neighbours stealing their wind

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Aperture

Mathematics

Artist brings data to life in striking screen prints

With a background in maths and design, Rebecca Kaye uses data to make sense of the natural world

Regulars

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Features

Life

What the surprising lives of solitary animals reveal about us

A new understanding of why some animals evolved to be loners, and the benefits that brings, shows that a social lifestyle isn’t necessarily superior

Features

Mind

What the new science of magic reveals about perception and free will

Features

Health

We're finally uncovering fibre's remarkable benefits for body and mind

Features

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Culture

Humans

Gripping story reveals race to crack world's oldest script, cuneiform

Cuneiform, the oldest identified writing system, defied deciphering – until 1857. What happened then makes a terrific read, in Joshua Hammer's The Mesopotamian Riddle

Culture

Health

A political take on cancer provides a tough but much-needed analysis

Culture

Space

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ recommends The Martian – sci-fi fun for all the family

Culture

Comment

Rereading the best sci-fi writers of all time: Larry Niven

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More

Space

How to spot Haumea, one of the solar system's strangest objects

Pluto isn’t the only dwarf planet in our solar system's outer reaches. Now is an ideal time to look for the egg-shaped Haumea, says Abigail Beall

Regulars

BrainTwister #68: Another 2025 puzzle

Regulars

Health

Doctors need to listen to the evidence about bed rest in pregnancy

Comment

Technology

Could brain-computer interface let us inhabit robot avatars on Mars?

Comment

Tom Gauld on moving fast and breaking things

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on an unexpected arachnid

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Comment

The blue whale: the world's most versatile measuring stick?

Feedback is delighted to hear from a reader who proposes an ingenious new unit of data – but we have some quibbles with the maths

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Letters

Regulars

The last word