SpaceX has been awarded a $2.9 billion contract to build the lunar lander that will take astronauts to the surface of the moon as part of NASA's Artemis programme
The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic
Facebook claims that its new artificial intelligence can predict the way drugs interact with each other inside cells, but other researchers say it may not translate into results that will be useful in humans
Many researchers think the alphabet emerged in Egypt about 3800 years ago – but possible examples of alphabetic writing from a 4300-year-old site in Syria challenge that idea
A climate model can reliably predict the strength of the Asian summer monsoon – and the tropical cyclone activity associated with it – more than one year ahead of time, which could help governments better prepare for damaging weather events
The 14 April launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket may have been the spacecraft’s last test flight before it begins taking passengers to the edge of space
An ultra-reflective white paint absorbs so little sunlight that it becomes cooler than its surroundings, so it could replace energy-intensive air conditioners to cool buildings
Some Australian lizards that begin developing as males will hatch as females if the egg is particularly warm, because the heat triggers genes that override their sex chromosomes
An estimate for the number of Tyrannosaurus rex that ever existed suggests that around 20,000 adults lived at any one time, meaning there were a total of 2.5 billion of them during the lifespan of the species
The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic
Simple dietary changes – like switching beef for chicken and peas for asparagus – may help people in the US reduce the amount of water required to put their meals on the table
Human-monkey chimeras produced by implanting human stem cells in macaque embryos could be used to study how cells develop, but some ethicists have raised concerns
Leaked draft legislation suggests the European Union is attempting to find a “third way” on artificial intelligence regulation, between the free market US and authoritarian China
Seismic activity in Taiwan happens more often during the dry season when the groundwater built up during monsoon season is depleted, leaving Earth’s crust more likely to rebound under stress