ANAGEDstarhaslitupacosmiccigar.ImagesofthegalaxyM82

More harm than good? Antioxidants defend cancer in body
ByAndyCoghlanTheymaybemarketedasawaytoprotectyourselfagainstdisease

Dangerous rare elephants pose conservation conundrum
WHAThappenswhentheneighbourfromhellisanendangeredspecies?Nextmonth

Neuroscience's most famous brain is reconstructed
ByHelenThomsonTHEmostinfluentialbraininneurosciencehasbeenreconstructedin3D

One Per Cent
Goingup?ThiselevatorknowsNoneedtopressthebutton.Microsoftsaysithastrainedoneofitselevatorstopredictwhowantstoclimbaboard.Forthreemonths

Ploughable sensors help farmers get more crop per drop
ByHalHodson(Image:EdwinRemsberg/Getty)ATTHEendofMarchseveralsmallbundlesofelectronicswillbeploughedintoafieldinCheshire

Grand Canyon is a sprightly young 6-million-year-old
IT’Sjustaspringchicken.TheGrandCanyoninArizonaisalmost65millionyearsyoungerthanwethought.Backin2012

Stephen Hawking's new theory offers black hole escape
ByJacobAronSTEPHENHAWKINGhasamind-bendingupdatetohistheoryaboutblackholes

Beams of sound immerse you in music others can't hear
ByPaulMarks(Image:TrevorWilliams/Fiz-iks/Getty)IFYOU’REsickofwadingthroughacloggedemailinboxorscrollingthroughendlessTwittertimelines

Fancy tech will not solve massive land loss, says UN
STOPwastingfoodorrisklosinganareaoflandthesizeofBraziltoagricultureby2050.AssessingGlobalLandUse

UK government to ban e-cigarettes for under-18s
VAPINGwillsoonbeoutforkidsintheUK:planstobansalesofelectroniccigarettestounder-18swereannouncedlastweekbythegovernment.TheUKjoinsthe26USstatesthathavebannedsalestominorsonthebasisthatusinge-cigare

Budgies may be behind latest spread of H7N9 bird flu
(Image:TimHall/RobertHardingImages/Getty)THEhumblebudgiehasbecomeanunexpectedmenaceinthelatestH7N9birdfluoutbreak.H7N9emergedinsouth-eastChinalastMarch

Squeeze light to teleport quantum energy
ByKatiaMoskvitchSQUEEZINGlightmaybethekeytoteleportingenergyacrossvastdistances–althoughtheamountofenergythatcouldtheoreticallybetransmittedisonlyseveralhundredmicroelectronvolts.Foryearsphysicistshav

Deadly MERS virus could hold the key to its own cure
APIECEofthedeadlyMERSvirusmightprovideitsowncure.TheviruscausingMiddleEastrespiratorysyndromeemergedin2012.Itdoesnotspreadreadilybetweenpeople

Cyclones hitting Australia plummet to 1500-year low
ByMichaelSlezakOFFthechart:cycloneactivityinAustraliahasbeenloweroverthelast40yearsthanatanytimeinthepast1500years.Theseeminglygoodnewscomeswithastinginthetailforpeoplelivingonthecoast.Theseemingly

Scratch a mirror image of your itch to bring relief
GOTanunbearableitch?Youcouldfindreliefinthemirror.ChristophHelmchenandhisteamattheUniversityofLübeckinGermanyhavefoundthatamirrorillusioncanfoolpeopleintofeelingrelieffromanitchwhenscratchingthewro

Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in clusters
GALAXIESneedtoevolveiftheywanttoswimwiththeirfriends.AhuntthroughimagesfromtheHubbleSpaceTelescopehasturneduphalfadozenspiralgalaxiesthatarebeingsculptedintojellyfishastheymovetowardsjoininggalaxyclus

Parched California hunts for water in unusual places
(Image:KenJames/Bloomberg/Getty)DEATHLYdryisthenewnormalinCalifornia.Asof27January

Did newborn sun have weirdly weak solar wind?
ByLisaGrossmanOURyoungsunmayhavebeenalatebloomer.Thefirstreadingofchargedparticlesstreamingfromayoungersolartwinshowsthatthisconstantparticleflow

Crowdsourcing Twitch app could turn swipes into cash
ByPaulMarks(Image:DaveStock)WANTtomakesomemoneycrowdsourcingbutdon’thavetime?Maybeyoushouldstart“twitching”.Workerswhopitchintocompletecrowdsourcingprojectscanearnasmallfeefordoingsimpletaskssuch

Zoologger: Flying snake gets lift from UFO cross section
BySandrineCeurstemont(Image:JakeSocha)Species:ChrysopeleaparadisiHabitat:tropicalrainforestsofSouthAsia

Conversation app helps parents boost child's language
ByHalHodson(Image:Lawren/Getty)ACHILD’Sdevelopmentdependsontheworldaroundthemandchattingwithparentsiscrucial.Butaround1.3millionchildrenintheUSalonehavetroublepickinguplanguageskills

Save ancient Chinese scrolls with anti-curl weapons
ANCIENTChinesescrollsmaysolveadilemmaforfuturisticelectronics:howtoavoidcurling.HangingscrollstraditionallyusedinChinesepaintingsarenormallystoredrolleduptoprotecttheirdelicateartwork.Butwhenunroll

Why you should care about the end of net neutrality
ByAvivaRutkin(Image:AndrewHarrer/BloombergviaGettyImages)ISTHIStheendoftheinternetasweknowit?On14January

Near-death experiences are overwhelmingly peaceful
ByHelenThomson(Image:AdriBerger/GettyImages)Near-deathexperiencesarerare

Huge 'whirlpools' in the ocean are driving the weather
ByMichaelSlezak(Image:SergeyKryazhimskiy)Giant“whirlpools”intheocean

Child refugees can be dogged by poor health for life
ByMatthewTimothyBradley(Image:SipaPress/REX)Itwasn’tagoodyear.In2013

Going vegetarian halves CO2 emissions from your food
ByMichaelSlezak(Image:VaskoMiokovicPhotography/GettyImages)Ifyoustopeatingmeat

Ethical land-grabbing could feed 100 million people
ByFredPearce(Image:ImageBroker/REX)LandgrabsbyforeigncompaniesinpoorpartsofAfricaandAsiacouldfeedanextra100millionpeopleifthelandisusedtogrowcrops.Butthegainwillbeminimalifthegrabbersexporttheprodu

Diabetes drugs may sometimes do more harm than good
ByClareWilson(Image:MarjolaineCady/BSIP/GettyImages)“Firstdonoharm”isthemaximthatdoctorstrytoliveby.Forpeoplewithtype2diabetes

First quantum transmission sent through space
ByJacobAron(Image:DavidDucros/SciencePhotoLibrary)Worriedaboutkeepingsecrets?Here’saquantumofsolace.Thefirstquantumtransmissiontogoviaspacepavesthewayforultra-securecommunicationssatellites.Secret

Threatwatch: Top malaria drug may lose punch in Africa
ByDeboraMacKenzie(Image:DeAgostini/GettyImages)Malariaisoneofhumanity’smostancientfoes.Ithelpskeepwholeregionsmiredinpovertyandkillsmorethanhalfamillionpeopleayear

Science ignored in US birth control ruling
ByLaurenHitchings(Image:PabloMartinezMonsivais/AP/PressAssociationImages)Religion1

The AI boss that deploys Hong Kong's subway engineers
Bloomberg/GettyByHalHodsonJUSTaftermidnight

Biggest X-ray eye in space to hunt hot cosmic objects
ByJacobAronAmightyX-raywarriorisgoingtospringforthtohuntmonsterblackholesandchartinterstellarstorms.TheEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA)lastweekapprovedplansfortheAthenaX-rayspacetelescope

Zoologger: Meet the only animal with five legs
ByAndyCoghlan(Image:MartinWillis/FLPA)Species:MacropusrufusHabitat:aridgrasslandsprettymuchanywhereinAustraliaOneoftheworld’sbestlovedandiconicanimalshasbeenkeepingasecret.Itturnsoutkangaroosm

Melting ice puts emperor penguins on a slippery slope
ByAndyCoghlan(Image:FransLanting/FLPA)Antarctica’siconicemperorpenguinsarepredictedtogointodeclinethiscentury.Risingtemperatureswillmelttheseaiceonwhichtheyliveandbreed

Make robots useful by teaching them to talk like us
ByAvivaRutkinVideo:Robotmakesanicecreamwhenyoutalktoit(Image:CornellUniversity)WhenAshutoshSaxenawantssomecoffeeoricecream

Acid-bath stem cell papers are finally retracted
ByHelenThomsonTheSTAPstemcellsagahasreacheditsbitterconclusion…fornow.TheauthorsoftwopaperspublishedbythejournalNature

NASA carbon sleuth will sniff out 'missing' emissions
ByLisaGrossman(Image:NASA)(Image:NASA)Theoriginalspacecraftfellfromtheskies.Butnow

Virtual flashlight reveals secrets of ancient artefacts
ByAvivaRutkin(Image:BrettRidel)Havealookatanyancientartefactandthere’sprobablysomethingtherethatyoucannotsee:stonecornersthathavelongsincechippedoff;carvingsrubbedawaybytime;oronce-gloriouscolo

Consciousness on-off switch discovered deep in brain
ByHelenThomson(Image:KirkWeddle/GettyImages)ONEmomentyou’reconscious

Swedish space rock may be piece of early life puzzle
ByRobinWylie(Image:DetlevvanRavenswaay/SciencePhotoLibrary)AfossilmeteoriteunlikeanythingseenbeforehasbeenuncoveredinaSwedishquarry.Themysteriousrockmaybethefirstknownpieceofthe“bullet”thatsparkedane

A vampire mite injected this bee with a deadly virus
ByJasminFox-Skelly(Image:GlobalWarmingImages/Rex)BloodsuckingparasiticmitesareinjectingtheUK’shoneybeeswithadeadlyvirusthatdeformstheirwings.Theirmethodofattackcouldexplainwhythemiteshavehadsuchas

El Niño will make Indonesia's deforestation even worse
ByFredPearce(Image:BAYISMOYO/Getty)It’saworldrecordnobodywants.NotonlyisIndonesiadeforestingfasterthananyothercountry

'Flying saucer' airbag for Mars splashes down in Hawaii
ByLisaGrossman(Image:NASA/JPL-Caltech)Hauledfromthesealikeanoversizedjellyfish

Extinct Neanderthals still control expression of human genes
RickFindler/BarcroftMediaByAndyCoghlanTHEYmayhavebeenextinctfor40