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Ancient shipwreck discovered off Turkey claimed to be world’s oldest
A ship that sank in the Early Bronze Age was probably carrying jars of olive oil and may have been on its way to the ancient city of Troy when it sank
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Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
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Ancient Indigenous people in New Mexico lived through extreme climate change 23,000 years ago, study suggests
Some of the first people in North America lived through extreme climate change at the peak of the last ice age, a new study suggests. Researchers studied ancient pollen locked in rocks at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, which houses an archaeological site thought to contain the oldest human footprints in the Americas. The researchers previously dated those footprints to around 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, though their age is the subject of some scientific debate because they are significantly older than other Indigenous sites in the Americas.The new findings, published Wednesday (Oct. 14) in the journal Science Advances, suggest that humans kept using White Sands after temperatures w...
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Self-replicating AIs are a great digital horror story – here’s the reality
Is self-replicating AI really just months away?janiecbros/Getty Images Much of the AI industry is built on stories, from the idea that AI could kill us all to the goal that it might one day become superintelligent. This often leads to problems, because when people have a story in their head, they don’t always look at the facts on the ground to check that they actually match the fiction. That has happened this week, with widely reported claims from Anthropic that we are mere “months away” from self-replicating AIs taking over smart devices. That’s a great headline, and it’s hard to resist clicking, but it almost certainly isn’t true. Read more AI or ‘super intelligence’? Trump isn’t the only ...
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We can rescue the AMOC after its collapse – but it won’t be easy
Icebergs near GreenlandCavan Images/Alamy A collapse in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) would be catastrophic, bringing “ice age” winters to Europe, raising sea levels in North America and disrupting vital monsoons in Africa and Asia. But there is a sliver of good news: a climate-driven collapse of the AMOC might not be permanent. The AMOC could weaken significantly under rising global temperatures over the coming decades, but it could recover its strength just as quickly if global cooling occurs. “There’s a very linear relationship between the global mean temperature and the AMOC response,” says Chuncheng Guo at the Danish Meteorological Institute. “When people talk a...
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NIH appears to shut down public comments on science peer-review rule change ahead of schedule
The proposed change to how the National Institutes of Health handles grant applications has been criticized by scientists as reducing transparency
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Microplastics are linked to inflammation—scientists might have finally worked out why
Microplastics interact with water to create highly reactive molecules, a new study finds
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Can math stay human in the age of AI?
As AI churns out mathematical proofs, a DeepMind study raises a bigger question: What do we lose when we focus only on the answers?
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Hidden sounds of nature brought to life in fascinating new book
From ice groaning to a very noisy troop of monkeys, Wilderness Songs by Justin Anderson shows some of the best nature stories are told through soundscapes as well as words – with added QR codes, finds Dhruti Shah
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This prize-winning sci-fi novel about wolf rewilding made me cry
When There Are Wolves Again by E. J. Swift somehow delivers both a determined call for more wildernesses globally – and a great novel. Sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson is thrilled she gave it another chance
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This week’s new questions
Why do humans enjoy black-and-white photos or videos, but have less tolerance for images that have only two other colours? If two chromosomes are better than one, why not three?
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This El Niño will bring predictable disasters, so why aren’t we ready?
Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images El Niño brings weather of opposite extremes – floods, droughts, cyclones, wildfires – to opposite sides of the planet. But we often forget that most of this extreme weather is highly predictable.For example, all eight strong El Niños in the past 70 years have caused drought in Indonesia. All major models predict the current record El Niño will lead to a dry autumn and winter there. So it’s little surprise that Indonesia is struggling with worsening drought and wildfires. Similarly predictable effects will be seen worldwide over the next year. Because of this predictability, some experts argue that there are no “natural” disasters. With enough pr...
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Some of our favourite New Scientist Live moments – in photographs
Dr Kandi Ejiofor (right) and epidemiologist Tim Spector unpack the risks in modern diets on the Mind and Body StageAlistair Veryard The hall hummed with joyous curiosity at this year’s New Scientist Live at Excel London, which ran from 10 to 12 October and attracted thousands of visitors of all ages. With topics including the search for extraterrestrial life, what AI is teaching us about consciousness and the maths behind Pokémon, there was a delightful range to explore. Highlights included physicist Jim Al-Khalili diving into the deepest mysteries of time and psychologist Kimberley Wilson on how to build lifelong brain health. Other packed talks ranged from how we evolved, from anthropologi...
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Physicists claim they can predict when AI will turn dangerous
Researchers say they've developed a simple mathematical formula that can predict when certain ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots will "go rogue," suddenly switching from helpful responses to potentially harmful ones. In a new study published Oct. 8 in the journal Patterns, physics professor Neil Johnson and doctoral student Frank Yingjie Huo, both at The George Washington University, show how the order in which a chatbot is given certain prompts can drastically reshape its answers, leading to "tipping points" that can send the chatbot down a rabbit hole of bad advice. However, Johnson and Huo say their formula can easily predict these tipping points.There have been horror sto...
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'They cannot compete with the prices that fish factories will pay': How demand for fish meal takes priority over feeding people
Fish meal is a commercial, protein-rich product created from raw fish and their byproducts, such as the heads and bones. It tends to be made from smaller fish species, including anchovies, sardines and herring. The fish are cooked, dried and ground into a powder, and then used to feed livestock, farmed fish and pets. But it is not a straightforward market. In this excerpt from "Every Last Fish: A Deep Dive into the World of Fishes and Fishing" (Granta Books, 2025), journalist and author Rose George looks at how vast quantities of staple fish are taken from the sea off West Africa and turned into fishmeal for farming in Europe and China, instead of ending up on the plates of people in Africa....
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Stunning video reveals the year-round dance of the sun’s corona
NASA’s PUNCH mission is showing a rarely seen aspect of our nearest star—the churning chaos of the solar corona
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How a year of extreme weather and a ‘Super El Niño’ will affect fall foliage
Leaf-peeping season is ramping up—here’s what to expect
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Chinese pottery discovered in Great Zimbabwe reveals medieval African empire's vast connections spanning thousands of miles
Archaeologists digging in the medieval city of Great Zimbabwe have discovered pieces of jade-green Chinese pottery, suggesting that the enigmatic empire had long-distance connections with East Asia more than 1,000 years ago. Great Zimbabwe, located in the southeastern part of modern-day Zimbabwe, was the capital of an ancient empire that arose in southeastern Africa in around A.D. 1000. Little is known about this precolonial empire because its people did not leave a written history, but new archaeological excavations are shining a light on the enormous scale of the centuries-old civilization known for its intricate metalworking and ritual stone carvings.In the new PBS documentary "Secrets of...
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Best wildlife cameras 2026: The ultimate buying guide to every major camera brand
Wildlife photographers need a camera that is reliable and built to capture fast-moving action at a moment's notice. A fast burst rate, accurate autofocus and robust handling are vital when it comes to wildlife cameras, or you'll end up with sad, blurry photos of an empty tree stump.We've curated a list of the best models from each of the top camera brands, so no matter which system you want to invest in, there will be something for you here.Best Canon cameras for wildlife photography Best for detail Canon EOS R5 II Canon's highest-resolution mirrorless camera with a 45MP stacked sensor, the R5 II is for wildlife photographers who want a professional workflow and need to crop aggressively. It...