This week's magazine

Table of contents

Leaders

Health

New Year's resolutions work better if you know what to measure

From our immune systems to our microbiomes, if you're planning to make health improvements in the new year, having an eye on the numbers can help set you up for success

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News

Environment

How green hydrogen could power industries from steel-making to farming

Many industries are eyeing up hydrogen as a source of clean energy, but with supplies of green hydrogen limited, we should prioritise the areas where it could have the most positive impact on carbon emissions, say researchers

News

Health

Timing cancer drug delivery around our body clock may boost survival

News

Life

Dinosaurs like Diplodocus may have been as colourful as birds

News

Space

Earth and solar system may have been shaped by nearby exploding star

News

Physics

Qubits break quantum limit to encode information for longer

News

Life

Genetic trick to make mosquitoes malaria resistant passes key test

News

Space

Mars may once have had a much larger moon

News

Health

We may finally know what a healthy gut microbiome looks like

News

Humans

Roman occupation of Britain damaged the population’s health

News

Life

Killer whales and dolphins are ‘being friends’ to hunt salmon together

News

Health

IVF success may depend on how long men abstain from ejaculation

News

Space

Black hole stars really do exist in the early universe

News

Environment

Some Arctic warming ‘irreversible’ even if we cut atmospheric CO2

News

Life

Tiny orange frog around the size of a pencil tip is brand-new species

News

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Aperture

Humans

Ancient rock art revealed in all its glory in stunning photographs

Images capture the remarkable variety of petroglyphs etched into rock across a wide swathe of land, from Mongolia to the Sahara

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Features

Health

How to extend and improve your life by getting more creative

Growing evidence reveals that creativity is one of the best-kept secrets for boosting your health. From live theatre to a quick crafting break, here’s how to harness the power of art in your everyday life

Features

Environment

How lab-grown lichen could help us to build habitations on Mars

Features

Space

The essential guide to proving we’ve found alien life

Features

Health

You can upgrade your immune system, but not in the way you think

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Culture

Mind

Can a new book crack one of neuroscience's hardest problems? Not quite

The ideas presented in George Lakoff and Srini Narayanan's The Neural Mind are fascinating, but the writing is far less compelling

Culture

Society

Bill Bryson on why he has updated A Short History of Nearly Everything

Culture

Humans

Why do we feel the need to humanise everything, from dogs to cars?

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More

Mathematics

Why we all need a little festive pedantry when it comes to snowflakes

Mathematician Katie Steckles explains just why the proliferation of snowflake decorations this time of year is deeply annoying

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Mind

Why it is important to make space for solitude over the festive season

Comment

Technology

How not to misread science fiction

Comment

Twisteddoodles on a very silly moon

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Tom Gauld on a consciousness hotline

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What is Bryan Johnson up to now? We try to explain

Feedback's eyebrows are raised at tech millionaire Bryan Johnson's latest exploits, which involve Grimes, music, and hallucinogenic mushrooms

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Letters

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The last word