Someone’s cervical cancer risk could be gauged non-invasively by collecting and analysing samples of their urine SolStock/Getty Images Urine tests seem to detect strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that are particularly associated with cervical cancer with the same level of accuracy as vaginal swabs that people carry out themselves. Cervical cancer screening has historically…
Toxic pollutants from a Southern California river are infiltrating the air. Polluted water surging along a turbulent section of the Tijuana River in San Diego can release toxic gases, including hydrogen sulfide, into the air, researchers report in the Aug. 28 Science. In a nearby neighborhood, hydrogen sulfide — produced from sewage breakdown and known…
August 28, 2025 2 min read This Deep-Sea Worm Creates a Toxic Yellow Pigment Found in Rembrandt and Cézanne Paintings A deep-sea worm that lives in hydrothermal vents is the first known animal to create orpiment, a toxic, arsenic-containing mineral that was used by artists for centuries By Mohana Basu & Nature magazine Paralvinella hessleri…
“In 2050 … the first 100 m-diameter telescope took shape in a crater on the lunar surface” Vladimir Vustyansky/NASA The All-Seeing Eye, which came into operation in the 2070s, was by far the largest and most powerful optical instrument ever built. Comprising eight telescopes built across the entire lunar surface, each with a 100-metre-diameter mirror,…
In late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast. The storm cut a deadly swath through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, deluging coastal towns as surges of ocean water swept relentlessly ashore, driven by powerful winds. The sheer force of the surging waters overpowered levees meant to protect low-lying New Orleans from floodwaters; the…
The upcoming fall and winter months are about to bring the usual crop of respiratory illnesses—influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and, of course, COVID. But this will be the first time since COVID vaccines were developed that many people in the U.S. will not have easy access to immunization against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes…
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 Computer versus dog Sometimes Feedback gets an email with such a punchy opening line, we basically have to include it. Hence, we perked up when Elliot Baptist…
August 28, 2025 3 min read These Succulents Glow in the Dark—And They’re Gorgeous Houseplants become rechargeable night-lights after injection with tiny phosphor particles By Katherine Bourzac & Nature magazine Researchers gave these succulents in the Echevaria genus a glow up by injecting them with luminescent particles. University students might soon have something other than…
In a twist of modern consumer psychology, we are now comfortable injecting synthetic substances into our faces, yet bristle at the thought of putting them in our mouths. The cosmetics industry is booming. Dermal fillers and wrinkle-smoothing neurotoxins have become routine maintenance, with the injectables market set to more than double by 2030. Jewellery, meanwhile,…
Some two millennia on, Christianity is still a dominant religion Sam Pelly/Millennium Images, UK DominationAlice Roberts (Simon & Schuster) Alice Roberts’s latest book is something of a left turn. In her previous works Crypt and Buried, she fused expertise in osteoarchaeology – the study of preserved human bones – with more traditional historical approaches, such as the analysis…
