Latest articles
How Climate Change Affects Children’s Skin Health
Jack-o’-Lantern History: From Carved Turnips to Pumpkins
Ideas & Opinions
Ideas & Opinions
Can Mealworms Change Their Minds? A Tiny Test of Purpose
Mealworm larvae learned where food was, then changed course when it turned bitter. Their tiny test suggests flexible thinking in a very small animal.
Are Viruses Alive? New Discovery Blurs the Line
Are viruses alive? A new discovery of viruses that blur into the cell’s own compartments gives the old debate fresh material.
How Neurons Communicate: The Brain’s Lightning-Fast Language
Billions of brain cells trade chemical messages in under a millisecond. Nobel laureate Thomas Südhof explains the vesicles, molecular zippers and calcium sensors that make this lightning-fast conversation possible.
Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life? A Cup of Water Says Yes
Physicist Kostya Trachenko showed that how runny a liquid can be is set by fundamental constants – adding a second, separate fine-tuning requirement for life beyond the classic stellar one.
Nobel Prizes Week: This Week in Science (Oct 5-11, 2026)
All three Nobel science prizes, the most distant radio burst ever, Webb’s weather on a failed star, a blood proteome atlas, and the peanut study: the week in science.
Business
Business
The Soft Skills Crisis AI Is Quietly Creating
AI can draft, summarise and answer, but it cannot practise judgment for us. Grace Lordan warns that the human skills we stop using may quietly fade.
Business Survival Rates: How Long Do New Businesses Last?
What official US data say about business survival rates: how many new businesses make it through year one, five years and a decade, and what the numbers miss.
Interviews
Interviews
Jaume Amigó: Painting Silence, Memory and the Sea
Jaume Amigó paints slowly in a fast world. His abstract paintings, shaped by Japan and Morocco, give emptiness as much weight as form.
An Online Safety Game Built for Kids With Down Syndrome
A small team in Bosnia and Herzegovina built SafeClick, an online safety game where a friendly owl helps children with Down syndrome practise staying safe on the web.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle
Fall Back Time Change: How to Keep Your Sleep on Track
The fall back time change gives you an extra hour, but it can still nudge your body clock. Here is what happens to your sleep and how to adjust gently.
How Cell Messages Could Change the Way We Treat Aging
Cell messages could change how doctors treat aging. GPCR signals link many body systems, and researchers are studying whether treating those networks could help several diseases at once.
Environment
Environment
How Climate Change Affects Children’s Skin Health
Children’s skin faces heat, ticks, smoke and floodwater as the climate warms. Here is what the science says, and the simple habits that protect young skin.
How Climate Change Affects Children’s Skin Health
Children’s skin faces heat, ticks, smoke and floodwater as the climate warms. Here is what the science says, and the simple habits that protect young skin.
What the 73% Wildlife Decline Number Really Means
The 73% wildlife decline headline is widely misunderstood. Here is what the Living Planet Index really measures, and the recovery stories hiding beneath the number.
Microplastics, Explained: The Hidden Chemistry of Tiny Plastic
Microplastics turn chemically active in water, a new Nature study finds — generating reactive molecules that may damage cells. Here is what the science really says, from artery plaque to the reasons to stay calm.
Giant Fungus “D-Rex”: New Species from Chinese Forests
A giant fungus nicknamed D-rex has been found in Yunnan, China: at 50 centimetres tall it is the largest fruiting body ever recorded in its phylum – and it belongs to a brand-new family of fungi.
Art & Culture
Art & Culture
Girl with a Pearl Earring: What Science Found Under the Paint
A 2018 study of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring found a hidden green curtain, tiny eyelashes, an illusory pearl and pigments gathered from around the world.
Jack-o’-Lantern History: From Carved Turnips to Pumpkins
Jack-o’-lantern history begins with marsh lights and an Irish trickster called Stingy Jack, then moves from carved turnips to the pumpkins of North America.
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