Category Science

If a cup of water spills on the floor, the water can’t unspill—that is, it’s inconceivable that each water molecule would exactly reverse its course to slip back into the cup. To do so would be to turn back time—something…

An artist’s impression of the solar system Shutterstock/Vadim Sadovski All of our solar system’s planets are lining up in the night sky at once this week. This extraordinary celestial event will see the sky scattered with seven visible planets in…

Josh (Jack Quaid) and his robo-companion, Iris (Sophie Thatcher) Warner Bros. Pictures CompanionDrew Hancock (Warner Bros (UK and US, on general release)) Arriving at a house in the country, Iris (Sophie Thatcher) isn’t sure she is welcome. The owner, Sergey (Rupert Friend),…

February 27, 2025 4 min read Crab Memes Amplify Mistaken Ideas about Evolution Memes about repeated evolution of crabs have been co-opted to joke about technology and “ultimate forms.” They’re hilarious, but they oversimplify natural variation, giving bad arguments a…

Staffers have already pushed back. “People have been painting waste bins saying “Antarctica is for ALL” in rainbow, people’s email signatures [have] pride additions, [others] keep adding preferred pronouns to emails,” the source says. “There’s a sense of unease on…

Science fiction, from The Jetsons to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is replete with humanoid robots. But for a long time in the real world, such robots have been a novelty at best and a punchline at worst. Somehow, though, in…

An artist’s impression of an environment where prehistoric plants thrived Christian Jegou/Science Photo Library When the Earth Was GreenRiley Black (St Martin’s Press (US, available now; UK, later this month)) The behaviour of plants is invisible to the naked human eye.…

Measles Outbreaks, Asteroid Risks and Fish Friends In this week’s news roundup, we cover activity from the black hole at our galaxy’s center and a troubling measles outbreak in Texas. By Allison Parshall, Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi & Naeem Amarsy…

Few things in life are as fraught as how we communicate, whether it is anxiously picking the right words to scribble in a Valentine’s Day card or agonising over how to ask your boss an awkward question. And that is…

Black women in the U.S. are close to 40 percent more likely to die of breast cancer than white women and twice as likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40. The disparity adds to an…