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How our brains build social worlds
What does a meeting of minds really mean? To understand how people interact, we need to think of their brains as a single system, say Andreas Roepstorff , Chris Frith and Uta Frith > >
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Life Science
Dear God, please confirm what I already believe
Experiments on people who believe in God suggest they endow the deity with their own views on controversial issues such as abortion > >
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Life Science
Why the hammerhead shark got its hammer
Its widely separated eyes give it super-vision – it can look up and down at the same time, and judge distance better than other sharks > >
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Life Science
Steven Laureys: How I know 'coma man' is conscious
The physician who diagnosed Rom Houben as conscious after 20 years as a coma patient has no time for those who doubt Houben's abilities > >
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Life Science
'Simple' bacterium shows surprising complexity
First "blueprint" of a minimalist bacterium show it is not so simple after all – challenging textbook accounts of the way genes work together > >
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Life Science
How to wind snail shells up the wrong way
Prodding embryos with a glass rod made snails reverse their "handedness", giving insight into when the symmetry of bodies begins > >
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Life Science
Brain scanner can tell a Dali from a Picasso
The brain seems to have a code for different artistic styles, which could one day be used to classify art > >
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Sleep success: How to make ZZZs = memory
From playing sounds to sniffing roses to dreaming of computer games, we are learning how to optimise sleep for better learning and memory > >
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P. Z. Myers: Mild-mannered scourge of creationists
His tirades against religion have provoked millions of readers, but the force behind the science blog Pharyngula turns out to be a rather genial firebrand > >
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Life Science
African conflicts spurred by warming
Africa is set to experience a surge in civil wars, causing nearly 400,000 additional battle deaths by 2030 – all as a direct result of rising temperatures, a study suggests > >
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Charles Darwin: Writing Origin 'like confessing a murder'
Death is no barrier to New Scientist . 150 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species , we have obtained an interview with its author* > >
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Life Science
Charles Darwin
Icy moon's lakes brim with hearty soup for life
Lakes on Saturn's moon Titan are loaded with acetylene, a chemical some scientists say could serve as food for cold-resistant organisms, a new study suggests > >
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Pickled evidence for evolution
Animal specimens preserved in jars look Victorian, but there's still nothing better for studying new species – see for yourself in our gallery > >
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Life Science
Pickled evidence for evolution
Animal specimens preserved in jars look Victorian, but the images in Evidence of Evolution show there's still nothing better for studying new species > >
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Life Science
Guapa, it's your genetic ancestry I love
In Latino populations, love unites people with similar mix of ancestries > >
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Life Science
Was there a Stone Age apocalypse or not?
A comet blasted North America 13,000 years ago, wiping out its megafauna and early settlers, one group insists. Not a bit of it, the sceptics cry > >
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Life Science
Better-looking sportsmen more likely to win
New research, along with a Twitter-facilitated study conducted by New Scientist , reveals an important trait of the best jocks: a handsome face > >
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Life Science
Watch out, roundworms: UV phasers are set to stun
With a flash of ultraviolet light, you can stun a roundworm. And a pulse of visible light has them wriggling again > >
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Life Science
Gene change in cannibals reveals evolution in action
Devastating brain disease caused by human cannibalism promoted protective gene mutation to emerge just 200 years ago > >
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Life Science
Scuba diving to the depths of human history
Many prehistoric people lived by the sea – but rising sea levels have drowned their settlements. To raise their secrets from the seabed, archaeologists are swapping their boots for flippers > >
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Balearic goats could grow slow
A goat that lived on the Balearic Islands until 3000 years ago had bones like a reptile – which could explain how the species survived so long > >
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Life Science
Toddlers insensitive to fear go on to commit crimes
Adult criminals tend to be fearless, but whether this quality emerges before or after their crimes wasn't clear until now > >
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Life Science
Climate change gives ancient trees growth spurt
Rising temperatures are boosting the growth of the oldest trees on Earth, but the adolescent growth spurt may – or may not – benefit the climate, say scientists
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Life Science
NASA to restart primate irradiation testing
The effect of space radiation on astronauts is still a big question mark for deep space exploration – primate research is meant to cut it down to size > >
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Life Science
Trees in far north provide biggest climate benefit
Planting forests in the tropics could be a waste of time and money, compared with planting them at high latitudes > >
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Signature of consciousness captured in brain scans
Consistent patterns linked to awareness of particular images could be used to detect consciousness in brain-damaged people > >
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Life Science
The Peeriodic Table of Illusions
Illusions can tell us much about how our brains work, but first we need to know how each one works, says Richard L. Gregory > >
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Tagging the tigers of the sea
Beautiful, predatory and endangered, tuna are rapidly being hunted to extinction. Graham Lawton joins the people trying to save them > >
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Tuna in peril as catches reach triple the limit
Times are tough for tuna as scientists' advice on managing stocks falls on deaf ears > >
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Life Science
Fair play: Monkeys share our sense of injustice
Our instinctive reaction to displays of greed and conspicuous consumption has its origins in the primate world, says Frans de Waal > >
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Suite of chatterbox genes discovered
A set of 116 genes influenced by Foxp2 could have coevolved to give humans language > >
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Life Science
Good vibrations get a club-winged manakin going
When it comes to wooing a mate, one bird finds it pays to make like a grasshopper > >
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Why smells from childhood mean so much
The first scent you associate with an object may be given privileged status in the brain
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Cinderella fruit: Wild delicacies become cash crops
From chocolate berries to monkey oranges and gingerbread plums, Africa is the home of thousands of tasty fruits whose potential is ripe for the plucking > >
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Stone Age humans crossed Sahara in the rain
Wet spells in the Sahara may have helped early humans migrate out of Africa > >
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Life Science
Head-mounted microscope sees brain beneath the skull
A microscope fitted to rats' heads watched the animals' brains in action as they roved freely > >
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Life Science
Extraterrestrial rafting: Hunting off-world sea life
Do the moons of Jupiter and Saturn harbour life in their chilly oceans? A flotilla of space probes is being lined up to haul anchor and find out > >
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Life Science
Why did our species survive the Neanderthals?
According to Clive Finlayson in The Humans Who Went Extinct , we were just lucky > >
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The music of Life on Earth
Edward Williams's music for Life on Earth is as atmospheric and innovative as the classic 1979 David Attenborough TV series it was composed for > >
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Life Science
Space bombardment could have cooked cyanide for life
Comet and asteroid strikes may have seeded Earth with cyanide that prepared the planet for life > >
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Life Science
Was life founded on cyanide from space crashes?
Comet and asteroid strikes may have seeded Earth with cyanide that prepared the planet for life > >
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Life Science
Nanoparticle DNA damage study: what you should know
A study has found some nanoparticles can harm cells without being in contact with them: should you be worried? > >
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Life Science
Picking up mates at the white shark café
Great whites roam the oceans to hunt but always touch base at their favourite dangerous dive > >
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Life Science
How your brain sees virtual you
The way the brain regards the virtual "you" may help explain why some people spend large chunks of their life online playing immersive games > >
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Life Science
Human microbes are picky about neighbourhoods on body
A map of the bacteria living on the human body shows the bugs that call us home have strong preferences about where they settle > >
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Life Science
Mass extinction blamed on fiery fountains of coal
One of Earth's worst-ever mass extinctions may have been caused by carbon dioxide released by exploding mixtures of magma and coal > >
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Life Science
Nicky Clayton: Dancing with Darwin
The bird cognition expert has worked with the Rambert Dance Company on its new evolution-inspired show, now on tour in the UK > >
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Life Science
Charles Darwin
Genes show when a woman's biological clock will stop
A gene test available next year could suggest how long a woman can put off having children > >
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Life Science
Skin helps heartbeat creep into consciousness
Tests on a brain-damaged man suggests that nerves in the skin may play a role in our self-awareness > >
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Life Science
Crabs trade sex for protection
This helps to explain how females defend their territory just as successfully as males despite their smaller claws > >
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