New Scientist - Home

1. Fat Bear Week: How Alaska's brown bears nearly double in size
   Brown bears in Katmai National Park can eat up to 160,000 calories a day to prepare for winter, but how do they know it's feasting time?
2. Why we know so little about cannabis – and why scientists are worried
   While research on marijuana has surged in the last 20 years, our understanding of the drug is decades behind that of other substances, like tobacco and alcohol
3. Quantum AI image generator is no match for ones on ordinary computers
   Artificial intelligence has generated recognisable images of things like shoes and T-shirts on a small quantum computer. They aren’t great, but the method could scale up to more powerful machines
4. Scientists have only just figured out how cats purr
   The low-pitched sound of purring is unusual for an animal with short vocal folds, but cats have other structures in their larynx that enable their contented rumbling
5. Robotic hand has the dexterity to handle tricky objects with care
   A sophisticated algorithm enables a robotic hand to rotate Rubik’s cubes and other objects in three axes, with potential applications on automated manufacturing lines
6. How your microbiome is shaped by your friends, family, lovers and pets
   We used to think the microbiome was mainly formed when we were babies but who you choose to live with later in life will shape the inhabitants of your gut
7. The best way to care for your microbiome to keep it healthy as you age
   From diet, to stress, sleep and your social life, there are plenty of ways to keep the microbiome working and boost health at any age
8. How the microbiome changes our idea of what it means to be human
   The microbes living on and in you can change your mood, your mind and your health - challenging our ideas about human nature
9. Cheaper malaria vaccine recommended by the WHO
   A second vaccine against the mosquito-borne disease should be available from next year, adding to the first that was launched in 2019
10. Nobel prize for physics goes to trio who sliced up time with light
    Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier figured out how to generate attosecond pulses of light, which last a billionth of a billionth of a second and can be used to make movies of electrons - a find that has won them the 2023 Nobel prize in physics