A rare variant of a gene called TP53 means Tracy Hutchinson has an extreme risk of developing cancer anywhere in her body, causing endless anxiety and requiring regular whole-body MRIs and other screening

DNA from ancient humans has been found on a prehistoric cave painting and on cave walls, demonstrating the potential to one day identify individual artists and resolve the debate over Neanderthals' artistic abilities

The New Scientist Book Club’s read for July is Claire North’s space opera Slow Gods. In this extract from its second chapter, we learn about the upbringing of its protagonist on the planet Tu-mdo

Claire North, whose space opera Slow Gods is the July read for the New Scientist Book Club, discusses how a population might deal with knowledge that their planet will be destroyed in 100 years

The world of quantum video games is vast – there are hundreds that are either inspired by quantum mechanics or use quantum computers in their development. Columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan explores how these could change our understanding of quantum physics, or even help us make better devices

The current temperatures in western and central Europe would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, and unprecedented humidity levels make this heatwave especially dangerous

Growing numbers of homeowners are installing batteries that store electricity when it is cheap, which helps balance the grid and cuts emissions, and cheaper plug-in batteries will soon let more people do the same

We have identified the gene that, when activated, initiates the developmental programme that results in cells forming a human body

The loss of Antarctica’s doomsday glacier would transform our planet. Now scientists are revealing the secrets of this remotest of places, and asking the question: is its demise inevitable?

This August a total solar eclipse is set to be visible across parts of Europe, while a partial eclipse will sweep across about a quarter of the planet – here’s how to catch it

The extreme heat currently being felt in Europe isn’t the new normal – much worse is to come, and we are doing far too little to adapt, says Michael Le Page

IBM's latest chip packs in twice as many transistors as the current state-of-the-art chip by adding a second layer of silicon circuitry

Phages, viruses that infect bacteria, could be genetically manipulated to destroy cancerous cells using the immunity we have acquired from vaccines

Scrolls from the Roman library of Herculaneum that were carbonised by a volcanic eruption have been read in their entirety for the first time, thanks to scans and AI software

An instrument on the Perseverance rover has identified large, complex carbon compounds alongside unusual patterns on the surface of rocks that resemble traces of microbial activity

We have developed genetic technologies that could wipe out entire species of pests that are harmful to us. Columnist Michael Le Page says the flesh-eating screwworm is the most likely first target

These images from photographer Kristin Bethge document Brazil's milk bank system, which provides some of the world's cheapest and safest donated milk to hundreds of thousands of babies

Sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson rounds up her favourite reads of the year to date – and highlights one particular book as her top pick

Feedback isn't sure what to make of a ground-breaking piece of research into the understudied topic of "subjective individual variability in onion tearing and its relationship to chemosensory sensitivity"

The first six months of the year have brought us popular science reads on everything from consciousness to cosmology. Liz Else rounds up her favourites