Can you escape your genetic inheritance, and do lifestyle changes actually make a difference? Daniel Cossins set out to understand what the evidence on Alzheimer’s really means for him

Endurance, the wooden ship that Ernest Shackleton took to Antarctica in 1915, wasn't built to withstand frozen seas – and the famous explorer knew it

The 2025 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has gone to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries around how we keep our immune system under control

Some conservation groups are calling for an effective ban on genetic modification, but others say these technologies are crucial for preserving biodiversity

We thought happiness peaked at the beginning and end of life, but a study from Germany suggests a more pessimistic outlook for our later years

Astronomers have long thought the universe should look generally the same in every direction, but an anomaly in the radiation from the big bang persists even after a new analysis from radio telescopes

A star found in the Large Magellanic Cloud is remarkably unpolluted by heavier elements, suggesting it is descended from the universe’s earliest stars

Several species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see an invader that might lay an egg in their nest – this shared call hints at the origin of language

It was previously thought that children younger than 7 couldn't find efficient solutions to complex problems, but new research suggests that much earlier, children can happen upon known sorting algorithms used by computer scientists

Sandra Knapp, chair of the judging panel for the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, explains why neurologist Masud Husain’s collection of case studies is such an enlightening, compassionate book

In this passage from Our Brains, Our Selves, winner of the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, neuroscientist Masud Husain recounts how novelist Marcel Proust became convinced, wrongly, that he'd had a stroke

The New Scientist Book Club has just finished reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Most of our members enjoyed it, even if the sheer volume of ideas in the book made it a challenging read

AI tools are being used to design proteins and even viruses, leading to fears these could eventually be used to evade bioweapon controls

Scientists are beginning to understand the sudden loss of sea ice in Antarctica – and there is growing evidence that it represents a permanent shift with potentially catastrophic consequences

A free-floating planet has been seen devouring astonishing amounts of matter, hinting that stars and planets are more alike than we thought

Jane Goodall, who chronicled the social lives of chimps, has died, but she leaves a lasting legacy on how we view the natural world

Learning to play an instrument has long been linked to improved reading skills among children, and we may finally understand why

Acclaimed conservationist and chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall has died, leaving behind a legacy of empathy for primates and the natural world

In most mammals, females live longer than males, but in birds the trend goes the other way – a study of over 1000 species points to possible reasons for these differences

If you are a fan of the moon, then the next four months will give you something special to watch out for, says Abigail Beall