TOP STORY
Mars rover 'shake and bake' cooks up a carbon mystery
NASA's Curiosity rover has tasted carbon in Martian soil, sparking speculation as to its origin, and has also found that Mars prefers its hydrogen heavy
Read more
LATEST NEWS
Storytelling software learns how to tell a good tale
NEWS: 10:00 08 December 2012
A system that can improvise elements of a story could lead to a much more flexible type of artificial intelligence
Doha climate talks stumbling towards a deal
BRIEFING: 17:56 07 December 2012
As the Qatar climate summit looks set to run into the weekend, we look at some key issues, such as compensation for poor countries harmed by climate change
Twin spacecraft map the mass of the man in the moon
17:54 07 December 2012
Two satellites called Ebb and Flow have revealed the fine variations in the moon's surface with the most detailed gravity map ever
Lose weight without eating less - just cut down on fat
17:40 07 December 2012
A review of studies involving 75,000 people shows that simply eating less fat made them lighter
North-east Japan quake rattles same fault as last year
16:06 07 December 2012 | 2 comments
A new quake off Japan's Pacific coast revives memories of 2011 tsunami; Fukushima nuclear power station "undamaged"
YouTube reorganises video with automated channels
15:48 07 December 2012
Software that automatically classifies video into channels catering to specific interests is YouTube's latest ploy to become the future of television
Parasite makes mice fearless by hijacking immune cells
13:20 07 December 2012 | 1 comment
The Toxoplasma parasite does its dirty work by getting immune cells to make a chemical normally found in the brain
Space-time waves may be hiding in dead star pulses
THIS WEEK: 11:28 07 December 2012
The first direct detection of gravitational waves may happen in 2013, if new studies of pulsars affected by galaxy mergers are correct
Captured: the moment photosynthesis changed the world
THIS WEEK: 09:00 07 December 2012 | 6 comments
For the first time, geologists have found evidence of how modern photosynthesis evolved 2.4 billion years ago
Commute to work on the roller coaster train
NEWS: 08:30 07 December 2012 | 3 comments
A Japanese train based on a theme park ride could make getting around cleaner – and more fun
BSE infected cattle have prions in saliva
THIS WEEK: 08:00 07 December 2012
The discovery of tiny levels of prions in cow saliva might pave way for a test for BSE before symptoms develop, and raises questions about transmission
Space bigwigs offer billion-dollar private moon trips
19:22 06 December 2012
Robots aren't the only ones heading to the moon. The Golden Spike Company will sell you a ticket whether you want to explore, mine or just show off
Human eye proteins detect red beyond red
19:00 06 December 2012
Tweaking the structure of a protein found in the eye has given it the ability to react to red light that is normally unperceivable
Kyoto protocol gets a second lease of life
BRIEFING: 17:19 06 December 2012
Just weeks before it is due to expire, the world's only binding climate agreement appears to have been saved – sort of
Zoologger: The toughest eggs in the world
16:34 06 December 2012
The eggs of the tiny seed shrimp Eucypris virens are truly stalwart, happily enduring sub-zero temperatures, UV radiation and oxygen deprivation
Browser hacks enable free cloud computing
16:18 06 December 2012
Cloud computing resources can be hijacked by exploiting loopholes in browsers
Your next boss could be a computer
NEWS: 13:34 06 December 2012
Software that delegates tricky problems to human workers is changing the nature of crowdsourcing
Sat-Map: Explore the lights of the world from space
11:54 06 December 2012
See humanity's global footprint in our night-time glow seen from orbit – from the dark realm of North Korea to oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico
Celebrities turn to encryption to keep phones private
INSIGHT: 08:00 06 December 2012 | 3 comments
Smartphone encryption tools will make it easier to keep your calls private
Chemical key to cell division revealed
22:00 05 December 2012
The discovery that lipids are vital for an important stage of cell division could offer new ways to treat cancer and rare genetic disorders
Gay 'conversion therapy' enters the courtroom
UPFRONT: 19:00 05 December 2012 | 34 comments
A widely condemned therapy which aims to help gay men change their sexuality is under legal scrutiny in a US trial
NASA's next Mars rover to launch in 2020
18:36 05 December 2012 | 1 comment
Rock storage and a zoomable 3D camera are some of the possible updates to a rover based on Curiosity's design
Astrophile: A baby solar system with big ambitions
18:00 05 December 2012
The infant should grow up into a sun-like star, and is surrounded by enough matter to make at least seven Jupiters
Earth-spanning super typhoon Bopha pictured from space
18:00 05 December 2012
A snapshot of the tropical storm from the International Space Station shows the extent of Bopha's fury from 370 kilometres up
No sign of emissions letting up as climate talks begin
INSIGHT: 18:00 05 December 2012 | 16 comments
Temperatures and sea level are rising faster than predicted, but it's our ever increasing greenhouse gas emissions that are the real worry
Gene switch found to help a heart heal itself
18:00 05 December 2012
Injecting specific sequences of RNA into the hearts of mice damaged by heart attack can help the organ repair itself by producing new muscle tissue
Dying aspen trees sound alarm for world's forests
16:48 05 December 2012
A severe drought in the US 10 years ago weakened the region's aspen trees. If the same is true for other tree species, climate change may destroy many forests
Nitpicking experts make Wikipedia a harder read
16:38 05 December 2012
Often written by expert writers with an obsessive quest for accuracy, the readability of Wikipedia entries is taking a back seat
ECONOMICS
Greece in crisis: Saving a nation
In this special report, New Scientist reveals the humanitarian cost of the Greek catastrophe, with plans for recovery and insights into network analysis
Read more
QUANTUM WORLD
Higgsteria: Hunting the world's most wanted particle
The Higgs boson was the only particle predicted by the standard model of physics that remained undetected – now all that's changed
Read more
