Being in two places at once could make a quantum battery charge faster
The quantum principle of superposition – the idea of particles being in multiple places at once – could help make quantum batteries that charge within minutes ⌘ Read more

Who were the enigmatic Sea Peoples blamed for the Bronze Age collapse?
Around 3000 years ago, several empires and kingdoms in the Mediterranean collapsed, with a group of sea-faring warriors implicated as the culprit. But new evidence shows that many of our ideas about this turbulent time need completely rethinking ⌘ Read more

DeepMind AI can predict how drugs interact with proteins
The latest version of the AlphaFold AI can help biologists predict how proteins interact with each other and other molecules, which is a boon to pharmaceutical research ⌘ Read more

Psychedelic toxins from toads could treat depression and anxiety
A compound emitted by the Colorado river toad may reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in a similar way to LSD and psilocybin, according to a study in mice ⌘ Read more

The ‘forever chemicals’ toxic to your health - and how to avoid them
From your popcorn bag to your waterproof jacket, forever chemicals are all around us. We’re finally starting to understand what they are doing to our health - and how to get rid of them ⌘ Read more

Ultrasonic coffee-maker produces the perfect cold brew in minutes
Cold-brewing coffee can reduce its bitter taste, but it normally takes up to 24 hours as the grounds slowly steep. A new method that involves pummelling the grounds with ultrasound can drastically speed up the process ⌘ Read more

Fusion reactors could create ingredients for a nuclear weapon in weeks
Concern over the risks of enabling nuclear weapons development is usually focused on nuclear fission reactors, but the potential harm from more advanced fusion reactors has been underappreciated ⌘ Read more

Hottest April on record is the 11th record-breaking month in a row
Global temperatures in April 2024 were 1.6°C higher than the average for April during the pre-industrial era ⌘ Read more

Longest-living cat breeds revealed by life expectancy study
Birman and Burmese cats typically live for more than 14 years while sphynxes live less than half as long on average, finds a study of pet cats in the UK ⌘ Read more

Renewables supply 30 per cent of global electricity for the first time
The rapid growth of solar power led to a record-breaking year for clean energy generation in 2023, and the year is expected to mark the start of a long-term decline in fossil fuels ⌘ Read more

Sperm whale clicks could be the closest thing to a human language yet
Analysis of thousands of exchanges between the intelligent cetaceans suggests they combine short click patterns – similar to letters of the alphabet - into longer sequences ⌘ Read more

Why we are finally within reach of a room-temperature superconductor
A practical superconductor would transform the efficiency of electronics. After decades of hunting, several key breakthroughs are inching us very close to this coveted prize ⌘ Read more

Hackers can steal data by messing with a computer’s processor
Software that has been blocked from connecting to the internet should be secure from hacking attempts, but now researchers have found a way to sneak data out by varying the speed of the computer’s processor ⌘ Read more

Bird flu has hit US cows but tracking efforts fall woefully short
The strategy for tracking bird flu in US dairy cattle falls worryingly short of what is needed to prevent the outbreak from widening and potentially spreading to humans ⌘ Read more

Implantable heart pump could let children wait for transplants at home
An implantable heart pump could help children with heart failure awaiting transplants forego bulky devices that require long hospital stays ⌘ Read more

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is about to make its first crewed flight
Two astronauts are about to set off for the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule. If all goes well, Starliner will join SpaceX’s Dragon as a US shuttle into orbit ⌘ Read more

Ball-balancing robot could assist wheelchair users
A robot that moves around by balancing on a ball could prove a better assistant for wheelchair users than humanoid robots that walk on two legs ⌘ Read more

How Schrödinger’s cat could make quantum computers work better
A quantum bit inspired by Schrödinger’s cat can resist making errors for an unprecedentedly long time, which makes it a candidate for building less error-prone quantum computers ⌘ Read more

Black holes scramble information – but may not be the best at it
Information contained within quantum objects gets scrambled when they interact. Physicists have now derived a speed limit for this process, challenging the idea that black holes are the fastest data scramblers ⌘ Read more

Zebras bob their heads at each other to signal cooperation
Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilities ⌘ Read more

Stink bugs grow a fungal garden on their legs to fight parasitic wasps
A surprise discovery has revealed that female stink bugs have a small indent on their hind legs that they use for cultivating fungi before spreading it on their eggs ⌘ Read more