New Scientist - Home

1. Does intermittent fasting improve gut health? Why it’s hard to say
   While intermittent fasting may be growing in popularity, relatively little is known about how it impacts our gut microbiome – for better or for worse
2. AI hallucinations are getting worse – and they're here to stay
   An AI leaderboard suggests the newest reasoning models used in chatbots are producing less accurate results because of higher hallucination rates. Experts say the problem is bigger than that
3. The everyday ways climate change is already making our lives worse
   Extreme weather events are the most dramatic consequence of climate change, but there are many smaller ways it disturbs our daily life
4. Was a famous supernova an alien invader from another galaxy?
   Kepler's Supernova, seen in 1604, is one of the most famous exploding stars ever seen, and now astronomers think it may have been an interloper from another galaxy
5. Chimps share 'building blocks of musical rhythm' with humans
   Just like humans, chimps have rhythm when drumming, which suggests that the trait evolved in our common ancestor
6. All living things emit an eerie glow that is snuffed out upon death
   Our bodies emit a stream of low-energy photons, and now experiments in mice have revealed that this ghostly glow is cut off when we die
7. Is the fungal science in The Last of Us going off the rails?
   With season 2 unfolding, the science of the fungal horror drama is becoming shakier. It is a pity that the creators haven’t thought about terrifying scenarios of real-life infection, says Corrado Nai
8. Our favourite science fiction books of all time (the ones we forgot)
   Following on from our first list, we asked New Scientist staff to pick even more of their favourite sci-fi books of all time. From Isaac Asimov and Ursula K. Le Guin to Star Wars – the list has it all this time, we hope…
9. Europe increasingly vulnerable to hailstones the size of golfballs
   Very large hail – hailstones more than 5 centimetres in diameter – poses a growing threat to Europe as the climate warms, with increasing risk of expensive damage to cars and property
10. Failed Soviet probe will soon crash to Earth – and we don't know where
    Kosmos 482, a Soviet spacecraft that never made it beyond Earth’s orbit on its way to Venus, is due to come crashing down on 9 or 10 May