New Scientist covers the latest developments in science and technology that will impact your world. New Scientist employs and commissions the best writers in their fields from all over the world. Our editorial team provide cutting-edge news, award-winning features and reports, written in concise and clear language that puts discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life today and in the future.
Elsewhere on New Scientist
A note from the editor
Super cells • Quantum batteries are worth pursuing amid the climate emergency
New Scientist
Vaccines cut covid spread • Figures from US prisons show that vaccines and past infections reduce transmission of the omicron variant, reports Clare Wilson
Energy crisis sparks firewood rush • People in the UK are buying up logs and installing wood-burning stoves to heat their homes amid spiralling gas prices, finds Adam Vaughan
James Webb Space Telescope snaps its first exoplanet…
…and sees strange sandy clouds on a brown dwarf
Nuclear fusion advances as reactor fires up for 30 seconds
Lasers can make diamonds from simple plastic
Privacy flaws in US monitoring apps • Apps used by US authorities to track immigrants require “dangerous permissions”
The Amazon rainforest has already reached a crucial tipping point
Some screen use before bedtime may be OK after all
Trans fats ban saved 1200 lives • A Danish ban on adding artificial trans fats to food has saved many lives, particularly in lower-income groups, finds Alice Klein
Quantum magnet is billions of times colder than space
The unexplained rise in UK deaths • Since April, there have been 22,500 more deaths than expected in the UK, causing concern among health experts. Jason Arunn Murugesu investigates what could be behind the surge
Climate impact of ‘Higgs factory’ colliders ranked
Pro-Ukraine hackers achieved little after Russian invasion
Meta AI can tell which words you hear by reading your brainwaves
Unsafe mercury levels found in Amazon fish
Most major carbon capture and storage projects haven’t met targets
Compression socks may cut runners’ stomach problems
Breathable oxygen pulled from Mars air
DeepMind trains soccer-playing AI
Mammals lived the fast life to size up after dinos
Really brief
Planning ahead • A dystopian future isn’t inevitable. We should be doing all we can to leave a better world for generations to come, says William MacAskill
Health check • A weighty matter The orthodoxy is that anyone with a body mass index of 25 or more is overweight, but evidence suggests the cut-off point should be higher, writes Clare Wilson
Moon shots
Editor’s pick
The way of the shark • Two powerful books aim to help turn the all-too-common public panic about the predator into interest in their conservation, finds Elle Hunt
Back to the Internet • The internet’s early days were quieter, more intimate – and spelled with a capital “I”. Should we go back, asks Jacob Aron
Don’t miss
The TV column • Dark side of the moon From a parched Earth, Song Ji-an joins a lunar mission to find out how her sister died. It gets bad, very bad. With nods to the 1972 Solaris and Alien, word-of-mouth hit The Silent Sea is an intriguing show, says Bethan Ackerley
Instant power • Quantum batteries that recharge in a flash could accelerate the electric car revolution, says Jon Cartwright
Figuring out fatigue • The past few years have been exhausting, not least for those with long covid. The good news is that we are finally beginning to understand why fatigue strikes and how to tackle it, says Dana G. Smith
When sleep doesn’t work
The Pope’s AI adviser •...
