Even hearing the phrase “Huntington’s disease” will make a room suddenly somber. So the joy that accompanied a recent announcement of results of an experimental gene therapy for the deadly diseases signaled an unfamiliar sense of hope. In a small clinical trial, brain injections of a virus that codes for a tiny segment of RNA…
September 25, 2025 4 min read Asteroid ‘Families’ Reveal Hidden Histories and Impact Risks across the Solar System Many asteroids are related, but their family trees can be hard to trace By Phil Plait edited by Lee Billings This illustration shows the creation of an asteroid family. Ejected fragments from catastrophic collisions of asteroids between…
A supernova could have sent cosmic rays hurtling at Earth muratart/Shutterstock An exploding star may have sent cosmic shrapnel flying to hit Earth 10 million years ago, and astronomers have now narrowed down the most likely culprits behind this interstellar incident. Earlier this year, Dominik Koll at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Germany and his colleagues…
There was something strange about the turquoise-colored songbird flying around San Antonio in 2023. With its black-and-white tail bands and its jeering honk, it somewhat resembled and sounded like a blue jay. But it had the face and low, two-tone rattling call of a green jay. The bird turned out to be an extremely rare…
September 26, 2025 2 min read Evolution Shocks Scientists in an Electric Battle against Invasive Bass Scientists electrically culled invasive fish in a 20-year battle—but the fish fought back with rapid evolution By Martin J. Kernan edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Ana Maria Tudor/Alamy Stock Photo A group of Cornell University scientists have been outmaneuvered…
Ludovic Slimak helped uncover the remains of Thorin, a Neanderthal Laure Metz The Last NeanderthalLudovic Slimak (translated by Andrew Brown) (Polity Press (UK, 26 September; US, 24 November)) A Neanderthal skeleton spotted by chance under some leaves, calcified soot and a trove of remarkably tiny arrowheads. These assorted finds from Grotte Mandrin in France have…
With emissions still rising, how do we feel hope for the future? Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images With dire environmental warnings and extreme weather events in the news almost every day, it can be tempting to simply avoid thinking about the climate crisis. But how do climate scientists, who must grapple with the harsh reality…
September 25, 2025 5 min read Good Conversations Don’t Require Everybody to Agree, Neuroscience Shows Brain imaging is illuminating the patterns linked to productive, positive dialogue, and those insights could help people connect with others By Emily Falk edited by Daisy Yuhas With each turn of the news cycle, you may wonder how anyone in…
Feedback is New Scientist’s popular sideways look at the latest science and technology news. You can submit items you believe may amuse readers to Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com A Swift botany lesson We never miss a beat, so Feedback, prompted by assistant news editor and Swiftie Alexandra Thompson, has been taking a close look at…
In high school, Carla Brodley was almost shut out of computer science when boys took over all the computers. But she rediscovered her love for the field in college and has made it her mission to open doors for others. She became founding executive director of the Center for Inclusive Computing, which now partners with…
