Latest articles
The Soft Skills Crisis AI Is Quietly Creating
Jaume Amigó: Painting Silence, Memory and the Sea
Ideas & Opinions
Ideas & Opinions
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.
Exoplanet Weather: Webb Watches Clouds Shift on a Distant World
Webb watched water clouds thicken and thin on WISE 0855, the coldest known brown dwarf: the first weather report from beyond our solar system.
Business
Business
Global Poverty Is Falling at Every Line, Not Just One
Global poverty has fallen at every line since 2000, not just the lowest one. Here is what the latest figures show, and the large job that remains.
Why Coffee Still Costs $9 After the Shortage Ended
Bean prices fell 25%, but the average US pound of coffee still costs $9.33. Where the money goes between the farm and your shelf.
Interviews
Interviews
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.
Van Gujjari: Saving an Oral Language One Recording at a Time
Van Gujjari writer Taukeer Alam on documenting an oral Himalayan language: why recordings beat books, and why communities must consent before their knowledge is shared.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle
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.
When Mental Illness Begins: The Ages That Matter Most
About a third of mental disorders begin by age 14 and two-thirds by 25. A look at the largest study of mental illness onset, and why timing support matters.
Environment
Environment
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.
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.
El Niño 2026, Explained: Why This One Is Breaking Records
El Niño 2026 has broken daily ocean-temperature records months before its expected peak. Our explainer covers the science, the numbers and what comes next.
Horseshoe Crab Blood: A 450-Million-Year Blue Story
Horseshoe crabs are not crabs at all: their copper-blue blood has guarded drug safety for decades, and a lab-made alternative has just won official acceptance.
Giant Isopod: The 32-Centimetre ‘Roly Poly’ in a Museum Drawer
A 32-centimetre giant isopod sat unrecognized in a German museum drawer for decades. Scientists just named it Bathynomus tuebingoborikensis.
Art & Culture
Art & Culture
Mondrian’s Masterpiece Is Public Domain. The Estate Disagrees.
Piet Mondrian’s 1930 Composition II entered the US public domain on January 1, 2026. The estate that manages his rights says otherwise. Here is what the law actually says.
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.
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