Globally, only 14 per cent of the plastic we use is recycled – but some countries achieve higher rates and new technologies ...

A new understanding of why some animals evolved to be loners, and the benefits that brings, shows that a social lifestyle isn ...

A machine controlled by AI that sprays bears with the chilli pepper chemical capsaicin could reduce dangerous confrontations ...

A newly discovered settlement in the north-western Nile delta was built by the Egyptian New Kingdom perhaps 3500 years ago ...

Larry Niven's Ringworld won him the Hugo and Nebula awards when it was published 55 years ago. As the New Scientist Book Club ...

There have been several claims of quantum computers performing at a level impossible to match with a classical computer – ...

Feedback is delighted to hear from a reader who proposes an ingenious new unit of data – but we have some quibbles with the ...

Cuneiform, the oldest identified writing system, defied deciphering – until 1857. What happened then makes a terrific read, ...

Governments love asking what scientific research will bring society, but the most important discoveries come from wondering ...

Magicians have long exploited quirks in our perception of the world to make us experience the impossible. Now, cognitive ...

Larry Niven's Ringworld won him the Hugo and Nebula awards when it was published 55 years ago. As the New Scientist Book Club ...

In the latest instalment of our Future Chronicles column, which explores an imagined history of inventions yet to come, Rowan ...