New Scientist Australian Edition

New Scientist covers the latest developments in science and technology that will impact your world. New Scientist employs and commissions the best writers in their fields from all over the world. Our editorial team provide cutting-edge news, award-winning features and reports, written in concise and clear language that puts discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life today and in the future.

Expecting better • We shouldn’t underestimate the lasting impact of unscientific health advice

New Scientist Australian Edition

Hatchling offers hope to threatened species

Family ties • The traditional view (left) is that modern humans split from Neanderthals and Denisovans. However, in this reconstruction (right), Neanderthals broke away first, with modern humans and Denisovans separating 1.32 million years ago.

Do we need to rewrite our origin story? • A reconstructed skull gives surprising clues to the enigmatic “Ancestor X” – which could completely change our understanding of humanity’s evolution, finds Michael Marshall

Rare metal hints at Earth’s clash with supernova

The genetic secrets of the world’s oldest person

DNA repair dial may affect ageing • When a key protein regulator quietens DNA repair mechanisms, our cells accumulate more mutations, which may cause us to age faster, discovers Michael Le Page

Atmospheric chaos raises temperatures in Antarctica

Have we cracked one of the world’s toughest climate problems?

Mummified cheetahs may have been trapped in caves

What we know, and don’t, about the link between painkillers and autism • The US government’s decision to caution against taking a common painkiller during pregnancy lacks support from scientific evidence, finds Grace Wade

Hope for Huntington’s treatment • A breakthrough therapy for Huntington’s disease could also be applied to other brain conditions, finds Grace Wade

Secret ingredient to making the ultimate plastics is revealed

Ultracold clocks could reveal how quantum physics alters time

Our black hole is windy, after all • First predicted in the 1970s, we may now have proof of wind coming from Sagittarius A*

Climate change is making trees in the Amazon grow larger

Qubit breakthrough could lead to bigger quantum computers

Babies’ brains ‘tick’ more slowly than adult ones

Venus has lava tubes, and they’re a bit weird

Mapping a brain doesn’t reveal all its secrets

Elusive particle may be in reach • We may have already created entities similar to axions, the leading candidate for dark matter

Dino that chomped on crocodiles named as a new species

A trip into alt-history • What might have happened if we had embraced psychedelic research, rather than banning it, wonders Tim Hayward

Field notes from space-time • The matter in hand Why would anyone bother to create facilities that make particles called B mesons? Because they may solve two of the universe’s big mysteries, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Beautiful bats • The Genius Bat (Oneworld)

On a war footing • Conflicts have shaped human evolution, but how do our brains determine the way they play out? Elle Hunt explores a guide to the neuroscience of warfare

Pacifying your period • A new book suggests lifestyle changes could help address PMS, but its approach is overly simplistic, finds Alexandra Thompson

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The TV column • Master manipulators New Netflix show Wayward is set at a strange academy in small-town Vermont that promises to “solve” adolescence. Bethan Ackerley discovers a troubled world where the adults are out to get the kids

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What’s inside a black hole? • Are black holes really what they seem, or could they...