World News Feed

Researcher, heal thyself: meet the scientists studying their own diseases

Nature, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02455-yStudying a condition after being diagnosed with it can be rewarding but also presents some ethical and psychological challenges.

Moderna cancer vaccine stops melanoma returning: what’s next for personalized treatments?

Nature, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02612-3Promising trial results suggest cancer vaccines work and could be used to target other tumours.

Astronaut vest cuts radiation exposure in half

Nature, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02556-8Tests on uncrewed NASA mission showed garment could spare astronauts the worst effects of solar storms.

To shield the fetus, link a protein to these drugs

Nature, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02553-xAdding albumin to popular antibody-based medicines helps to block their passage through the placenta.

Dialkyl ether synthesis through heteroatom homolytic substitution

Nature, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11043-zDialkyl ether synthesis through heteroatom homolytic substitution

Investors’ sneak peak: can this AI tool spot the science that will …

Nature, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02549-7The approach could speed up investment decisions, but researchers say it has flaws.

These trees are making air quality in cities worse

Nature, Published online: 20 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02586-2They release compounds that contribute to ozone emissions, and rising temperatures could exacerbate the problem.

A mother’s age can shape her offspring without changing their DNA

Scientists have found evidence that the effects of a mother’s age on her offspring may be driven by reversible changes in gene activity rather than …

Suggesting that ADHD is a myth is pseudoscientific and dangerous

ADHD is a real condition that can have serious consequences if undiagnosed. An ill-informed documentary that suggests it is a modern, social construct could cause …

Are flies following a strategy when they keep hitting windows? Part 4

Answers continue to pour in as New Scientist readers ponder this question, with one reader widening it out to consider dragonflies, and another focusing on …

This week’s new questions

Why do humans have a common sense of beauty for things like sunsets, and do other animals share this appreciation? And why can’t we cool …

Don’t be an archaeologist in a movie if you want to survive

Tom Gauld on popularity in the lab

Tom Gauld's weekly cartoonTom Gauld's weekly cartoon

Twisteddoodles on distribution graphs (with added cats)

This week's cartoon from Twisteddoodles

Stunning image of a polar bear with an outsized snack wins major …

Roie Galitz's breathtaking shot is one of the winners of the 2026 World Press Photo Contest, praised for its unusual perspective and scale

This sci-fi novel is a riveting tale of an oppressive galactic empire

A rich widow, a disillusioned cop and a dim hypersled driver are caught in the machinations of the oppressive party ruling the Decurion Empire in …

It is finally time to talk about the impact of fluctuating hormones

For decades, women have felt the need to hide the impact of changes in their hormones, while scientists have excluded women from research to avoid …

The wild, gripping story of the psychedelic secreted by desert toads

Kimon de Greef's The Ego Trip chronicles the rise of a potent psychedelic drug, from the toads that secrete it to the man who claimed …

Newly discovered immune hubs in our skull may keep our brain healthy

We may have clusters of immune cells at the back of our skull that help ward off conditions like brain cancer

AI could offer a shortcut for designing more efficient airplane wings

AI agents devised a way to reduce friction of an airplane wing model even without access to a costly computer simulation

Supercentenarians have hypervigilant immune systems that fight off cancer

People aged 110 or older seem to have a disproportionately high number of immune cells that fight off cancer and infections

5-year-old brain organoids can sense the passing of time

Brain organoids have been grown and studied for five years, the longest time to date, and their activity suggests they had a sense of time …

We may now know which neurons dictate when it is time to …

Two clusters of neurons in the brains of mice seem to create the drive to get some shuteye, potentially hinting at a new target for …

Coffee drinkers have less fat, more muscle, and surprising hormone differences

Coffee drinkers may be getting more than an energy boost. A Finnish study found that people who drank more coffee tended to have less total …