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This week's magazine

29 November 2025

Issue 3571

New Scientist issue 3571 cover
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Editor's picks

Oxfam activists wearing oversized masks representing (L to R) Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, France's President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Argentina's President Javier Milei, US President Donald Trump, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum pose during their

COP30: The UN climate summits are no longer fit for purpose

Comment
A new understanding of causality could fix quantum theory’s fatal flaw

Physics

A new understanding of causality could fix quantum theory’s fatal flaw

Features
A revolutionary way to map our bodies is helping cure deadly diseases

Health

A revolutionary way to map our bodies is helping cure deadly diseases

Features
Hoverfly

Life

The long-overlooked insects that could save our crops

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Oxfam activists wearing oversized masks representing (L to R) Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, France's President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Argentina's President Javier Milei, US President Donald Trump, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum pose during their

COP30: The UN climate summits are no longer fit for purpose

The final COP30 agreement fails to even mention fossil fuels. Countries wanting to tackle climate change must not wait for the next meeting to take action

Comment

News

Adult mice using their paws and mouths to remove pups stuck in a pregnant animal's birth canal

Life

Mouse 'midwives' help their pregnant companions give birth

Scientists have observed mice helping each other when they encounter difficulties during birth, prompting a rethink of caregiving among rodents and other animals 

News

Technology

Mosquito proboscis repurposed as a fine nozzle for 3D printing

News

Humans

Ancient figurine may show sexual encounter between woman and goose

News

Humans

Neanderthals' hefty noses weren’t well adapted to cold climates

News

Humans

Vast Bronze Age city discovered in the plains of Kazakhstan

News

Society

Four-fifths of the world's population now live in urban areas

News

Humans

Kissing may have evolved in an ape ancestor 21 million years ago

News

Physics

Physics of light and magnetism rewritten after almost two centuries

News

Space

We’ve found an unexpected structure in the solar system’s Kuiper belt

News

Technology

Quantum computers that recycle their qubits can limit errors

News

Health

Vanishing Y chromosomes could aid or worsen lung cancer outcomes

News

Environment

Climate heating has reached even deepest parts of the Arctic Ocean

News

Health

Daily pill could offer alternative to weight-loss injections

News

Health

Common type of inflammatory bowel disease linked to toxic bacteria

News

Life

Moss spores survive and germinate after 283-day 'space walk'

News

Space

Astronomers may have glimpsed evidence of the biggest stars ever seen

News

Life

Ancient tracks may record stampede of turtles disturbed by earthquake

News

Environment

Undersea ‘storms’ are melting the ‘doomsday’ glacier’s ice shelf

News

Life

Sperm's evolutionary origins go back before multicellular animals

News

Environment

COP30 keeps climate cooperation alive but hanging by a thread

News

Exceptionally rare pink grasshopper spotted in New Zealand

News

Analysis

Environment

Why is climate action stalling, not ramping up as Earth gets hotter?

As the impact of global warming becomes more obvious, you might expect countries to step up climate action and preparation, but we’re seeing the opposite happen

News

Aperture

'Horrific and beautiful' whale rescue image wins photography prize

Life

'Horrific and beautiful' whale rescue image wins photography prize

See some of the winning entries for this year's Oceania Photo Contest, including Miesa Grobbelaar's shot of a whale, which took the top prize

Regulars

Features

A new understanding of causality could fix quantum theory’s fatal flaw

Physics

A new understanding of causality could fix quantum theory’s fatal flaw

Quantum theory fails to explain how the reality we experience emerges from the world of particles. A new take on quantum cause and effect could bridge the gap

Features

Life

The long-overlooked insects that could save our crops

Features

Health

A revolutionary way to map our bodies is helping cure deadly diseases

Features

Culture

Young woman, wearing a orange jacket, is reading a book on an ebook reader during sunset over Himalayas. She is sitting on the top of a mountain and holding the e-reader.The afternoon sun on the background. Mount Everest National Park. This is the highest national park in the world, with the entire park located above 3,000 m ( 9,700 ft). This park includes three peaks higher than 8,000 m, including Mt Everest. Therefore, most of the park area is very rugged and steep, with its terrain cut by deep rivers and glaciers. Unlike other parks in the plain areas, this park can be divided into four climate zones because of the rising altitude. The climatic zones include a forested lower zone, a zone of alpine scrub, the upper alpine zone which includes upper limit of vegetation growth, and the Arctic zone where no plants can grow.

Comment

The 13 best popular science books of 2025

Women's hidden extra work, positive tipping points and new thinking on autism – there's much to chew on in this year's best reads, says Liz Else

Culture

Comment

The 12 best science fiction books of 2025

Culture

More

Around two hundred of people ran in Santa Claus costumes during the Santa Run event organized by the foundation 'Rotary Santa Run' in the Dutch city of Breda. The event raised at least 8.000EUR for two local charities. On December 18th, 0222. (Photo by Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Health

The quick and easy ways to stay fit this holiday season

A chaotic schedule over the holiday season often derails Grace Wade’s workout routine. But this year she has a plan…

Regulars

Space

Why dark matter is still one of the biggest open problems in science

Comment

Mind

Why memory manipulation could be one of humanity's healthiest ideas

Comment

Tom Gauld on the travails of an earthworm

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on an unexpected Martian discovery

Regulars

Regulars

The science of swimming trunks – including tightness analysis

The science of swimming trunks – including tightness analysis

Feedback dives into a new piece of research on the merits of swimming briefs or looser swimming shorts – and raises an eyebrow at its conclusion

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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