Society
What politicians so often get wrong about science
Comment
This week's magazine
12 April 2025
Issue 3538
On the cover
Editor's picks
Table of contents
快猫短视频
Life
Striking image shows giant hooded katydid hatchling perched on adult
This giant hooded katydid hatchling may not yet live up to its name, but one day it could match its parents for size
News
Physics
‘Quantum Darwinism’ may explain why we live in a shared reality
News
Mind
Largest mammalian brain map ever could unpick what makes us human
News
Earth
Arabia has been green for long spells in the past 8 million years
News
Health
Common artificial sweetener makes you three times hungrier than sugar
News
Humans
Mammoth tusk flakes may be the oldest ivory objects made by humans
News
Life
Cave spiders use their webs in a way that hasn’t been seen before
News
Space
We could make solar panels on the moon by melting lunar dust
News
Mind
The best retro games console is the one you played at age 10
News
Space
NASA cut $420 million for climate science, moon modelling and more
News
Society
Are Trump’s cuts to science the end of the endless frontier?
News
Comment
Kennedy has taken a sledgehammer to the US’s public health
News
Life
Plant skin grafts could result in new kinds of vegetables
News
Health
Weekend workouts can be as valuable as exercising throughout the week
News
Life
Bonobos use a kind of syntax once thought to be unique to humans
News
Environment
Aged human urine is a pungent pesticide as well as a fertiliser
News
Analysis
Environment
Wind farm developers are worried about neighbours stealing their wind
Wakes from offshore wind farms can reduce the power generated by neighbouring farms 鈥� an issue that is growing more prevalent as turbines get bigger and more numerous
News
Health
Do Ozempic and Wegovy really cause hair loss?
News
Features
Health
We’re finally uncovering fibre’s remarkable benefits for body and mind
From dampening inflammation to boosting mental health, the many types of dietary fibre have a surprisingly large impact throughout the body. Here's how to get your fill
Features
Life
What the surprising lives of solitary animals reveal about us
Features
Mind
What the new science of magic reveals about perception and free will
Features
Culture
Humans
Gripping story reveals race to crack world’s oldest script, cuneiform
Cuneiform, the oldest identified writing system, defied deciphering 鈥� 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
快猫短视频 recommends The Martian 鈥� sci-fi fun for all the family
Culture
Comment
Rereading the best sci-fi writers of all time: Larry Niven
Culture
More
Health
Doctors need to listen to the evidence about bed rest in pregnancy
Bed rest is commonly prescribed for high-risk pregnancies. It can't hurt and might help, right? Wrong, says Jacqueline Sears
Comment
Technology
Could brain-computer interface let us inhabit robot avatars on Mars?
Comment
Space
How to spot Haumea, one of the solar system’s strangest objects
Regulars
Tom Gauld on moving fast and breaking things
Regulars
Twisteddoodles on an unexpected arachnid
Regulars
Regulars
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 鈥� but we have some quibbles with the maths
This Week鈥檚 Letters
Letters
How do two photons become quantum entangled 鈥� and can I do it at home?
Last Word
When a spirit level is flat, what does that mean relative to Earth?
Last Word
This week鈥檚 new questions
Last Word
Why does some music give us goosebumps?
Last Word
