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This week's magazine

30 November 2024

Issue 3519

×îÐÂÂ鶹ÊÓƵ issue 3519 cover
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Editor's picks

Abstract image of the AI brain's nerve network connected and synchronized with the circuit board.

Technology

Banning scary-sounding ideas can comfort but does more harm than good

Comment
We may be about to solve the greatest riddle of electromagnetism

Physics

We may be about to solve the greatest riddle of electromagnetism

Features
The radical treatments bringing people back from the brink of death

Health

The radical treatments bringing people back from the brink of death

Features
How a unique puppy kindergarten lab put the science into dog training

Life

How a unique puppy kindergarten lab put the science into dog training

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Abstract image of the AI brain's nerve network connected and synchronized with the circuit board.

Technology

Banning scary-sounding ideas can comfort but does more harm than good

Recent developments in AI and neurological research may prompt concern. However, placing outright bans on such research is unlikely to be the best solution - and may hold us back

Comment

News

Earth

We may have solved the mystery of what froze Earth's inner core

A supercomputer simulation of iron and carbon atoms in Earth’s inner core may explain how a molten ball at the centre of our planet froze solid

News

Life

Wild cavefish can somehow survive with almost no sleep at all

News

Technology

IBM entangled two quantum chips to work together for the first time

News

Life

A sliver of lab-grown wood has been made from stem cells

News

Technology

Robotic pigeon reveals how birds fly without a vertical tail fin

News

Health

We're starting to understand why some people regain weight they lost

News

Space

Einstein’s theories tested on the largest scale ever – he was right

News

Life

A giant hornet from Asia has appeared in Europe for the first time

News

Life

Heart-shaped mollusc has windows that work like fibre optics

News

Space

Planet 10 times the size of Earth is one of the youngest ever found

News

Space

Being in space makes it harder for astronauts to think quickly

News

Technology

Quantum computers hit a crucial milestone for error-free calculation

News

Technology

Google DeepMind AI can expertly fix errors in quantum computers

News

Technology

AI simulations of 1000 people accurately replicate their behaviour

News

Space

We've taken a photo of a star in another galaxy for the first time

News

Life

Nectar-loving Ethiopian wolves may be the first carnivore pollinators

News

Life

Chimpanzees seem to get more technologically advanced through culture

News

Space

Bacteria found in asteroid sample – but they're not from space

News

Space

Meteorite crystals show evidence of hot water on ancient Mars

News

Analysis

Health

Are calories on menus doing more harm than good?

Many restaurants in countries such as England and the US now print calories on their menus, but some researchers question whether this is really tackling their obesity problem

News

Environment

Anger over COP29 finance deal threatens progress on carbon cuts

News

Aperture

Morocco - Tafilalt Oasis - On July 2019 a wildfire spread over 3km across the palm grove burning more than 10,000 trees of which 2500 were palm trees. Summer wildfires are due to a combination of extreme temperatures and lying dead trees. which can easily catch fire in the summer months.

Environment

Images reveal how climate change is upending life in Morocco's oases

The climate crisis is shriveling lush oases in the desert, threatening precious ecosystems and ways of life

Regulars

Features

We may be about to solve the greatest riddle of electromagnetism

Physics

We may be about to solve the greatest riddle of electromagnetism

Physicists have long wondered why particles can only have an electric charge of +1, -2 or any whole number. Now we increasingly suspect that, actually, that's not true after all

Features

Life

How a unique puppy kindergarten lab put the science into dog training

Features

Health

The radical treatments bringing people back from the brink of death

Features

Culture

New South Wales, Australia

Comment

The best new popular science books of 2024

From a scientific take on screen time to nuclear war, a look at why we age to the future of our oceans, our writers pick their favourite popular science books of the year

Culture

Space

The best new science fiction books of 2024

Culture

More

Tom Gauld on an unexpected new stand-up comedian

Tom Gauld on an unexpected new stand-up comedian

Tom Gauld's weekly cartoon

Regulars

Life

Why surrounding your plants with crushed eggshells won't deter slugs

Regulars

BrainTwister #48: Rock, paper, scissors

Regulars

Technology

The forgotten civil engineer with a vision we could all learn from

Comment

Twisteddoodles on worm holes

Regulars

Technology

Don’t be fooled by Elon Musk’s chatty Optimus robots

Comment

Regulars

How to defeat wild emus - lessons from history

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

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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