New Scientist - Home

1. First evidence of ancient birds nesting above the Arctic circle
   Tiny bone fragments from Alaska suggest birds started breeding and nesting in the Arctic 30 million years earlier than previously thought
2. Leprosy was in the Americas long before the arrival of Europeans
   The history books say Europeans brought leprosy to the Americas, but analysis of ancient DNA reveals that a form of the disease was present in Argentina and Canada much earlier
3. Will SpaceX’s Starship rocket ever work – and what if it doesn’t?
   The failure of SpaceX’s ninth Starship launch has raised fresh concerns about the future of the rocket, but is there any alternative to Elon Musk’s approach to space?
4. Amazing images reveal new details in the sun's atmosphere
   City-sized droplets and twisting streams of plasma have been picked up by incredibly detailed images of the sun’s corona, showing our star as we’ve never seen it before
5. Qubit breakthrough could make it easier to build quantum computers
   Quantum computers that correct their own errors usually require hundreds of thousands of qubits. Start-up Nord Quantique claims it can dramatically decrease that number – but many challenges remain
6. Dark chocolate is rich in flavanols. Does that make it a health food?
   Antioxidants like cocoa flavanols may benefit heart health, brain ageing and the microbiome. Columnist Alexandra Thompson investigates whether it’s time to rethink chocolate
7. Before the Great Wall, Chinese rulers built a shallow ditch
   A network of trenches, walls and enclosures built across the steppes of China and Mongolia 800 years ago seems to have been erected to control the flow of people, perhaps for tax reasons
8. We’re about to unlock the secrets of ancient human brains
   For the first time, we have a method for extracting proteins from preserved soft tissues like brains – which could be a treasure trove of evolutionary information
9. Massive glacier collapse triggers landslide that buries Swiss village
   Villagers in Blatten, Switzerland, were evacuated earlier this month after authorities warned a nearby glacier was on the brink of collapse – one of many becoming less stable as global temperature rise
10. How your whole imagination is conjured up from three brain processes
    Understanding the neurological systems that produce the world inside your head can help you to harness its transformative power