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Table of contents

Leaders

Humans

We're homing in on the best ways to tackle misinformation

A debating technique known as the "truth sandwich" is helping archaeologists combat a false narrative about an advanced ancient civilisation forgotten in human history

Comment

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News

Technology

AIs can work together in much larger groups than humans ever could

It is thought that humans can only maintain relationships with around 150 people, a figure known as Dunbar's number, but it seems that AI models can outstrip this and reach consensus in far bigger groups

News

Technology

Hackers can turn your smartphone into an eavesdropping device

News

Health

The US is ramping up bird flu surveillance – but will it be enough?

News

Physics

Certain quantum systems may be able to defy entropy's effects forever

News

Health

Slowing growth in life expectancy means few people will live to 100

News

Technology

Microscopic gears powered by light could be used to make tiny machines

News

Mind

Hot sauce taste test reveals how expectations shape pleasure and pain

News

Physics

This test could reveal whether gravity is subject to quantum weirdness

News

Health

Your toothbrush is teeming with hundreds of types of viruses

News

Health

Weight-loss drugs lower impulse to eat – and perhaps to exercise too

News

Environment

Once we pass 1.5°C of global warming, there is no going back

News

Mind

Your brain has individual neurons that respond to the smell of bananas

News

Physics

Tiniest 'ruler' ever measures distances as small as an atom's width

News

Life

Living microbes found deep inside 2-billion-year-old rock

News

Health

France slashed bird flu outbreaks by vaccinating ducks

News

Health

Hospital hit by Hurricane Milton gets system to grab water from air

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Analysis

Technology

Do the 2024 Nobel prizes show that AI is the future of science?

Two of the three science Nobel prizes in 2024 have been won by people working in AI, but does this mean that AI models are now vital for science?

News

Technology

Elon Musk's Tesla Cybercab is a hollow promise of a robotaxi future

News

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Aperture

�����鶹��Ƶ Live

All the action from �����鶹��Ƶ Live – in photographs

Our three-day festival of science, discoveries and innovation, with talks by names from Alice Roberts to Venki Ramakrishnan, took place from 12-14 October. Here's a taste of the fun in pictures

Regulars

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Features

Mind

The free-energy principle: Can one idea explain why everything exists?

What life is and how the mind works fall within the compass of one bold concept. But critics say that by attempting to explain everything, it may end up explaining nothing

Features

Humans

The archaeologist fighting claims about an advanced lost civilisation

Features

Mind

Why frenemies, or love-hate relationships, are so bad for your health

Features

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Culture

Space

Understated sci-fi drama traverses themes of immigration and identity

Moin Hussain's debut feature film Sky Peals sees a man discover his father may be from outer space. Part sci-fi, part family drama, part coming-of-age tale, it is odd and otherworldly

Culture

Mind

Separating the "woo" from the work of manifesting in two new books

Culture

Environment

Bestselling graphic novel is a whistlestop tour of the climate crisis

Culture

Space

�����鶹��Ƶ recommends Brian Cox's new series, Solar System

Culture

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More

Space

What does it mean to “look” at a black hole?

General relativity teaches us that observing a black hole is all a question of perspective – and technique, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Comment

Mathematics

How the maths of queuing can make lines more efficient

Regulars

BrainTwister #42: Persistence

Regulars

Society

Readers deserve better from popular science books

Comment

Tom Gauld: Congratulations on your successful experiment!

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on a secret technical handshake

Regulars

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Regulars

Can rain help a "human head" survive a lightning strike? Possibly

Feedback is intrigued by a study that uses rain and a "realistic three-compartment human head phantom" to explore the effects of a direct hit from lightning

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word