Last Word is New Scientist’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging ...

Last Word is New Scientist’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging ...

Other cartoons by Tom Gauld can be found here. Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to ...

A billion or so years into its evolution, the icy dwarf planet Ceres may have had the right conditions to sustain life, which ...

A new formulation of cement reflects and emits heat more effectively than normal Portland cement, so it stays much cooler on ...

Free and unimpeded internet access is no longer a convenience or a luxury. It is high time it was made a human right ...

The 100-metre sprint was won by a machine with a time of 21.50 seconds. It was one of many events at the games, which saw 280 ...

Robin Hammond's photographs show the conservation battle to eradicate three species introduced to New Zealand, in order to ...

Rearing our unusually underdeveloped young may account for the evolution of language. Michael Marshall is intrigued, but ...

Inveterate cyclist Matt Sparkes, who has been knocked off his bike by human-driven cars several times, wonders if the arrival ...

Human delivers an unusually clear picture of Homo sapiens as a species shaped by climate, animals, plants, other hominins and ...