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This week's magazine

13 December 2025

Issue 3573

New Scientist issue 3573 cover
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On the cover

Features
We’ve finally cracked how to make truly random numbers
Test your brain on these mind-bending scientific riddles
What the family drama of interbreeding polar and grizzly bears reveals
Why we only recently discovered space is dark not bright
The audacious quest to light up the sky with artificial auroras
The surprising longevity lessons from the world’s oldest animal
Did ancient humans start farming so they could drink more beer?
Inside the wild experiments physicists would do with zero limits
How 3 imaginary physics demons tore up the laws of nature
What the evolution of tickling tells us about being human
Too busy to meditate? Microdosing mindfulness has big health benefits
Are we living in a simulation? This experiment could tell us
News
AI firms began to feel the legal wrath of copyright holders in 2025
People saw a new colour for the first time in 2025
China's carbon emissions may have started to fall in 2025
De-extinction was big news in 2025 – but didn't live up to the hype
The most amazing archaeology photos and discoveries of 2025
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Editor's picks

Protesters gather during a ???Rally for Science,??? against cuts to science and research funding outside the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC, on Friday, March 7, 2025. Elon Musk???s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump Administration have severely cut funding for disease and biomedical research amidst emerging threats to public health. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA)

Comment

Science still produced many wonders in 2025 despite being under siege

Comment
Are we living in a simulation? This experiment could tell us

Physics

Are we living in a simulation? This experiment could tell us

Features
How 3 imaginary physics demons tore up the laws of nature

Physics

How 3 imaginary physics demons tore up the laws of nature

Features
We’ve finally cracked how to make truly random numbers

Mathematics

We’ve finally cracked how to make truly random numbers

Features
Did ancient humans start farming so they could drink more beer?

Humans

Did ancient humans start farming so they could drink more beer?

Features
Why we only recently discovered space is dark not bright

Space

Why we only recently discovered space is dark not bright

Features
A polar bear grizzly bear hybrid , Ursus maritimus, t

Life

What the family drama of interbreeding polar and grizzly bears reveals

Features
Test your brain on these mind-bending scientific riddles

Mind

Test your brain on these mind-bending scientific riddles

Features
Scientists inside a science base in the Moon conduct a variety of humorous experiments. We see a cat chasing after a giant laser beam; a scientist being eaten by a venus fly trap, a star falling through a Christmas tree as a scientist tries and fails to put it on top, a scientist going to a 'moonshine' bar, robots attending a seminar, a scientist trapping a human brain in a forcefield, and scientists stepping through portals. In the sky above the spaceship, Santa is being abducted by aliens.

Physics

Inside the wild experiments physicists would do with zero limits

Features
Cheerful mother and daughter tickling and playing at home on couch

Humans

What the evolution of tickling tells us about being human

Features
Two hands holding three clams on a beach

Environment

The surprising longevity lessons from the world’s oldest animal

Features
Aurora Borealis dancing over Tromso Urban Skyline. Tromso Panorama and winter night landscape with Northern Lights (Aurora Polaris) on a cold night, with starry sky, polar lights and snowcapped mountains on Kvaloya Island in the background. Cityscape with Brightly Street Light of the Arctic Capital, Northern Norway

Earth

The audacious quest to light up the sky with artificial auroras

Features
A woman on a subway with her eyes shut

Mind

Too busy to meditate? Microdosing mindfulness has big health benefits

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Protesters gather during a ???Rally for Science,??? against cuts to science and research funding outside the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC, on Friday, March 7, 2025. Elon Musk???s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump Administration have severely cut funding for disease and biomedical research amidst emerging threats to public health. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA)

Comment

Science still produced many wonders in 2025 despite being under siege

Though there were setbacks on climate change and funding for science this year, there was still plenty of amazing discoveries to marvel at

Comment

News

Space

Chance of a devastating asteroid impact briefly spiked in 2025

A building-sized asteroid had a 1-in-32 chance of hitting Earth at its peak, but astronomers soon found there was zero chance of it impacting the planet

News

Technology

AI firms began to feel the legal wrath of copyright holders in 2025

News

Mind

People saw a new colour for the first time in 2025

News

Health

The potential of GLP-1 drugs to transform medicine exploded in 2025

News

Environment

China's carbon emissions may have started to fall in 2025

News

Life

De-extinction was big news in 2025 – but didn't live up to the hype

News

Society

Donald Trump and Elon Musk put science on the chopping block in 2025

News

Environment

Coral reefs have fuelled severe global warming in Earth's past

News

Health

We now have a greater understanding of how exercise slows cancer

News

Health

Man unexpectedly cured of HIV after stem cell transplant

News

Space

Asteroid Bennu carries all the ingredients for life as we know it

News

Humans

Ancient human artefacts found near caves in Arabian desert

News

Physics

Quantum experiment settles a century-old row between Einstein and Bohr

News

Space

Planned satellite launches could ruin Hubble Space Telescope images

News

Health

Dogs may make us more caring and sociable by changing our microbiome

News

Life

Tigers seem to be bouncing back in remote Sumatran jungle

News

Space

Forming moon may have taken three big impacts early in Earth’s history

News

Humans

The most amazing archaeology photos and discoveries of 2025

News

Health

Experimental vaccine prevents dangerous allergic attack for a year

News

Environment

Volcano eruption may have led to the Black Death coming to Europe

News

Life

A spectacular showcase of animal pictures from 2025

News

Health

Tattooing may trigger localised damage to the immune system

News

Mark Zuckerberg's face put on top of robotic dog for art installation

News

Analysis

Soyuz-2.1 rocket booster with Soyuz MS-28 space ship

Space

What would Russia's inability to launch crewed missions mean for ISS?

Russia's only launch site capable of sending humans to orbit has suffered serious damage that may take two years to fix. Will NASA keep supporting the ISS without Russian involvement, or is this the end for the space station?

News

Aperture

PAGE 20 MOMENT A while ago, I borrowed a piece of opal from a geological museum to photograph for a book I was working on. Using my ?real? camera, I had to figure out a good composition for a picture of this complicated mineral. Notice the larger light-blue ?veins? running across the image. I used them as organizational elements, to create sections to help the viewer decide how to look at the image. PHENOMENON Over many years of geological time, opal is slowly formed as many small spheres of silica (what glass is made of) self-assemble into perfectly ordered layers. Diffraction (not to be confused with refraction) occurs when light passes through the spheres and gaps, and it is split into the colors of the visible spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The diameter of the spheres and the spacing between them determines the colors that we see. Light reflected from the different stacked layers creates interference effects.

Life

Can you work out what these enigmatic close-up photos are of?

Scientist and photographer Felice Frankel has zoomed in on everyday occurrences with her camera for her new book, Phenomenal Moments, which reveals the hidden science in our daily lives

Regulars

Features

We’ve finally cracked how to make truly random numbers

Mathematics

We’ve finally cracked how to make truly random numbers

From machine learning to voting, the workings of the world demand randomisation, but true sources of randomness are surprisingly hard to find. Now quantum mechanics has supplied the answer

Features

Mind

Test your brain on these mind-bending scientific riddles

Features

Life

What the family drama of interbreeding polar and grizzly bears reveals

Features

Space

Why we only recently discovered space is dark not bright

Features

Earth

The audacious quest to light up the sky with artificial auroras

Features

Environment

The surprising longevity lessons from the world’s oldest animal

Features

Humans

Did ancient humans start farming so they could drink more beer?

Features

Physics

Inside the wild experiments physicists would do with zero limits

Features

Physics

How 3 imaginary physics demons tore up the laws of nature

Features

Humans

What the evolution of tickling tells us about being human

Features

Mind

Too busy to meditate? Microdosing mindfulness has big health benefits

Features

Physics

Are we living in a simulation? This experiment could tell us

Features

Culture

We reveal our favourite 33 books, films, games and TV to escape with

Comment

We reveal our favourite 33 books, films, games and TV to escape with

New Scientist writers and contributors have chosen their top science-y books, films, TV shows, music, video games and board games, an eclectic mix which ranges from Dobble to The Creator

Culture

More

MENAN, ID - AUGUST 21: Locals and travelers from around the world gather on Menan Butte to watch the eclipse on August 21, 2017 in Menan, Idaho. Millions of people have flocked to areas of the U.S. that are in the

Space

The stargazing events to look forward to in 2026

There are a host of celestial events to get excited about next year – including a total solar eclipse. Abigail Beall is lining up her calendar

Regulars

Health

How I learned to keep my brain in better repair this year

Comment

Humans

2025 was chock full of exciting discoveries in human evolution

Comment

Space

Comets were on fire this year – for better or worse

Comment

Technology

This year we were drowning in a sea of slick, nonsensical AI slop

Comment

Twisteddoodles: In the festive period, my collaborator gave to me...

Regulars

Regulars

Best acronym? Best use of AI? We present our end-of-year awards

Comment

Best acronym? Best use of AI? We present our end-of-year awards

Feedback has spent some time sifting through 2025's key scientific achievements to come up with a range of weird and wonderful (and less wonderful) winners for our inaugural Backsies awards

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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