Science news

Nature, Published online: 28 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09938-4

Author Correction: Diversity-oriented synthesis yields novel multistage antimalarial inhibitors

Nature, Published online: 28 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09952-6

Author Correction: Evidence for improved DNA repair in the long-lived bowhead whale

Nature, Published online: 28 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03797-9

Researchers have struggled to precisely edit mitochondrial DNA, but new techniques are bringing this ability within reach.

Nature, Published online: 28 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03877-w

Studying trapped antimatter could help to explain why our world is so full of matter.

Nature, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09953-5

Author Correction: Nasal delivery of an IgM offers broad protection from SARS-CoV-2 variants

Nature, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09947-3

Author Correction: Matrix viscoelasticity promotes liver cancer progression in the pre-cirrhotic liver

Nature, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09955-3

Author Correction: Inhibiting membrane rupture with NINJ1 antibodies limits tissue injury

Nature, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03891-y

Despite advances, AI models continue to be geared towards the needs of English-speaking people in high-income countries.

Nature, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03506-6

Controversy has erupted after 21% of manuscript reviews for an international AI conference were found to be generated by artificial intelligence.

Nature, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03778-y

The European country has long been recognized as a model of efficiency and innovation — here’s how its research ecosystem is organized.

Researchers analyzed data from over six million people to see how close residents lived to cannabis retailers. Neighborhoods near these shops experienced higher cannabis-related emergency visits compared with those farther away. The effect was strongest where multiple stores were packed into small areas. These trends suggest that store density plays a meaningful role in community health.

Researchers found that repeated head impacts can disrupt a key system that helps the brain wash away waste. In professional fighters, this system initially seems to work harder after trauma, then declines over time. MRI scans revealed that these changes may show up years before symptoms do. The work could help identify at-risk athletes earlier in their careers.

A large-scale Brazilian study found dangerous levels of toxic metals in popular children’s toys, with barium and lead topping the list. Researchers used sophisticated lab methods to identify 21 hazardous elements and test how easily they could be released when toys are mouthed. Even though only small fractions leach out, the total concentrations were so high that safety concerns remain critical.

A major review across 73 countries finds that access to antiseizure medications is rising, but safe prescribing isn’t keeping pace. Valproate—linked to serious birth defects—remains widely used in many regions despite WHO warnings. Limited access to newer drugs means millions may still be at risk. Researchers urge global education and stronger safeguards.

Researchers have directly observed Floquet effects in graphene for the first time, settling a long-running scientific debate. Their ultrafast light-based technique demonstrates that graphene’s electronic properties can be tuned almost instantaneously. This paves the way for custom-engineered quantum materials and new approaches in electronics and sensing.

ETH Zurich scientists have found the holy grail of brewing: the long-sought formula behind stable beer foam. Their research explains why different beers rely on different physical mechanisms to keep bubbles intact and why some foams last far longer than others.

Scientists have identified new anti-aging compounds produced by a little-studied blood bacterium. These indole metabolites were able to reduce inflammation, oxidative stress, and collagen-damaging activity in skin cell cultures. Three of the compounds, including two never seen before, showed particularly strong effects. The findings hint at a surprising new source for future skin-rejuvenation therapies.

Researchers have finally assigned a strange 3.4-million-year-old foot to Australopithecus deyiremeda, confirming that Lucy’s species wasn’t alone in ancient Ethiopia. This hominin had an opposable big toe for climbing but still walked upright in a distinct style. Isotope tests show it ate different foods from A. afarensis, revealing clear ecological separation. These insights help explain how multiple early human species co-existed without wiping each other out.

Princeton researchers found that the brain excels at learning because it reuses modular “cognitive blocks” across many tasks. Monkeys switching between visual categorization challenges revealed that the prefrontal cortex assembles these blocks like Legos to create new behaviors. This flexibility explains why humans learn quickly while AI models often forget old skills. The insights may help build better AI and new clinical treatments for impaired cognitive adaptability.

Data from over 47,000 dogs reveal that CBD is most often used in older pets with chronic health issues. Long-term CBD use was linked to reduced aggression, though other anxious behaviors didn’t improve. The trend was strongest among dogs whose owners lived in cannabis-friendly states.

An international team of scientists led by University of Rome Tor Vergata researchers has sequenced the genomes of 87 ancient and modern cats.

The post Domestic Cats Were Introduced to Europe around 2,000 Years Ago, Probably from North Africa: Study appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

In 2009, paleoanthropologists found eight bones from the foot of an ancient human ancestor in 3.4-million-year-old sediments at the paleontological site of Woranso-Mille in the Afar Rift in Ethiopia.

The post Two Australopithecus Species Co-Existed in Ethiopia 3.4 Million Years Ago appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

The genome of the vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis sp.) is one of the largest animal genomes, exceeding 10 billion base pairs.

The post Scientists Sequence Genome of Vampire Squid appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

To celebrate 25 years since the completion of the International Gemini Observatory, students in Chile voted for the Gemini South telescope to image the Butterfly Nebula, which is also known as NGC 6302, the Bug Nebula, or Caldwell 69.

The post Gemini South Telescope Focuses on Butterfly Nebula appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

In new research, an international team of researchers used high-resolution 3D imaging techniques, including microCT scanning, to reconstruct brain shapes from more than three dozen species.

The post New Study Reveals How Pterosaurs Evolved Flight-Ready Brain appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Paleontologists have analyzed an exceptionally long sauropod trackway at the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite in Colorado, the United States. Their results show that the giant dinosaur which made it may have been limping.

The post 150-Million-Year-Old Footprints of Limping Sauropod Dinosaur Found in Colorado appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Although dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, hybridization between the two is far more rare than domestic and wild populations of other species.

The post Almost Two-Thirds of Breed Dogs Have Wolf Ancestry, Study Shows appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Researchers have tested protenemata, brood cells and sporophytes of Physcomitrium patens under simulated space environments, identifying spores as the most resilient, and subsequently exposed them to the space environment outside the International Space Station.

The post Moss Can Survive Long-Term Exposure to Elements of Space, New Experiments Show appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Ruhr University Bochum researchers Gianmarco Maldarelli and Onur Güntürkün highlight three central areas in which birds show remarkable parallels to conscious experience in mammals: sensory consciousness, neurobiological foundations, and accounts of self-consciousness.

The post Birds May Possess Fundamental Forms of Conscious Perception: Study appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Wolves, the wild ancestor of dogs, are the only large carnivores that have undergone domestication by humans.

The post Ancient Humans Introduced Wolves to Remote Baltic Sea Island 5,000 Years Ago appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A daily pill can prevent the crippling disease, but its maker won’t bring it to market

Technology that uses a less known sensory system to substitute for olfaction could one day help anosmic people detect some odors

Specialized appendage responds to female sex hormones, allowing males to find sex organs in the dark

Government pledges to more than triple research spending by 2030

Identity of the toe bones and other fossils could shake up the human family tree

DNA recovered from people buried at the site reveals surprises

Unusually obstructive plumage compromises the vision of two types of pheasants—a first in birds

Bats could form a bridge between marine and terrestrial mammals, scientists say

Nation was first to legally protect frozen landscapes, a key source of water

Policy drops “paylines” based on peer-review scores and requires geography and other factors to guide approvals

From drowned worlds to virtual utopias via deep space, wild ideas abound in Emily H. Wilson's picks for her favourite sci-fi reads of the year

Quantum theory fails to explain how the reality we experience emerges from the world of particles. A new take on quantum cause and effect could bridge the gap

Scientists have long tried to uncover the perilous journey humans took to reach the ancient land mass that now makes up Australia. Now, a genetic study has edged us closer to understanding how and when they achieved this

Google is reportedly in talks to sell its tensor processing units – a type of computer chip specially designed for AI – to other tech companies, a move that could unsettle the dominant chip-maker Nvidia

Dental problems often arise or get worse during pregnancy, and a new study hints that rapid changes to the oral microbiome at this time could be at least partly to blame

Domestic cats originated in North Africa and spread to Europe in the past 2000 years, according to DNA evidence, while in China a different species of cat lived alongside people much earlier

Logging and mining are destroying swathes of the Congo rainforest, with the result that African forests went from being a carbon sink to a carbon source in 2010 to 2017

Inspired by natural polymers like DNA, chemists have devised a way to engineer plastic so it breaks down when it is no longer needed, rather than polluting the environment

New Scientist Book Club members share their thoughts on our November read, Grace Chan's Every Version of You

The New Scientist Book Club is currently reading Iain M. Banks's classic sci-fi novel The Player of Games. In this extract, we meet protagonist Gurgeh for the first time

Have you ever seen a dog focused on nuzzling their expensive treat under a blanket, behind a couch cushion, or into a freshly dug hole in the backyard? You might think they are behaving like a paranoid doomsday prepper, but dogs aren't stockpiling their food due to anxiety about impending disaster.

Marine litter is a serious environmental problem worldwide. Reducing it would require implementing a global monitoring system, agreeing on the use of common methods and protocols for data collection, and categorizing all components of marine debris. This involves a tremendous scientific, political, and social effort at the international level—one that cannot be carried out with the same intensity by all countries—given the magnitude of what is still unknown about the pollution of seas and oceans, particularly the deep ocean, where the vast majority of marine litter accumulates.

The first Bible to feature a map of the Holy Land was published 500 years ago in 1525. The map was initially printed the wrong way round—showing the Mediterranean to the East—but its inclusion set a precedent which continues to shape our understanding of state borders today, a new Cambridge study argues.

When three bright minds from different disciplines come together, something exceptional can happen. This is exactly what Prof. Patricia Hidalgo, Dr. Beatrix Santiago-Schübel, and Dr. Mercedes Alfonso-Prieto achieved at Forschungszentrum Jülich. In an interdisciplinary project, they investigated how cells recognize and remove defective calcium channels—work that could prove significant not only for basic science, but also for future therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Writing using computers is a vital life skill. We are constantly texting, posting, blogging and emailing.

According to an EHU study, lack of social support leads to increased loneliness of bisexual people. The work by Garikoitz Azkona of the Psychobiology group explored the relationship between sexual orientation and loneliness. It detected the highest level of loneliness among bisexual people, above that of homosexuals and heterosexuals.

A new study published in Science Advances overturns a long-standing paradigm in climate science that stronger Northern Hemisphere summer insolation produces stronger tropical rainfall. Instead, a precisely dated 129,000-year rainfall reconstruction from a Cuban cave shows that the Caribbean often did the opposite, drying during intervals of intensified summer insolation.

The mega genus Begonia (Begoniaceae) is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. It is one of the largest plant genera in the world with over 2,100 species. In China, the number of Begonia species has increased to 304 (including subspecies, varieties and natural hybrid species) in recent years.

Researchers at the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) and the University of Bremen have studied the nutritional value of five edible seaweed species, including some lesser-known algae, and examined their potential for sustainable nutrition. The study, published in the journal Discover Food, shows that the analyzed species are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and have strong antioxidant properties as well as high protein and mineral contents.

A strong geomagnetic storm in spring 2024 brought the northern lights unusually far south, as the auroral oval expanded well beyond its typical position. "I am surprised at how sparse the measurement network is, even though we know that the impacts of space weather can vary greatly from one area to another," says Doctoral Researcher Otto Kärhä from the University of Oulu, Finland.

Canada has had more than a year of continuous measles transmission. The United States has until January to limit cases before losing status.

As action from the U.N.’s huge COP30 international meeting falls short, smaller groups are banding together to find ways to fight climate change.

Foot bones and other fossils have been attributed to Australopithecus deyiremeda, a recently discovered species that may shake up the human family tree.

A microphone on NASA’s Perseverance rover recorded the sounds of electrical discharges generated by dusty gusts.

Like exercise, gratitude takes many forms. Finding the right practice, research shows, is up to the individual.

Ancient collagen preserved in the bones of extinct Australian mammals is revealing their evolutionary relationships, leading to some surprises.

Simulations show that subsurface oceans on small moons may hit boiling conditions, potentially creating features like Miranda’s distinctive ridges.

Colorful lichen living on dinosaur bones reflect infrared light that can be detected by drones, which might lead to finds in remote areas.

Takanori Takebe’s strange investigation into whether humans can use the gut for breathing has surprisingly sentimental origins: helping his dad.

The grisly infrared camera footage records a never-before-seen hunting tactic. It may have implications for bat conservation.