Early humans: Mystery hominin in East Africa had an unusual walking style

A set of 3.7-million-year-old footprints were initially thought to have been left by a bear walking upright, but have now been reinterpreted as the prints of an unidentified hominin that walked a little bit like a modern catwalk fashion model Humans 1 December 2021 By Michael Marshall One of the hominin footprints preserved at Laetoli … Read more

DeepMind: AI software collaborates with humans on mathematical breakthroughs

Humans and AI working together can reveal new areas of mathematics where data sets are too large to be comprehended by mathematicians Technology 1 December 2021 By Matthew Sparkes A simple knot DeepMind AI software has collaborated with mathematicians to successfully develop a theorem about the structure of knots, but the suggestions given by the … Read more

The best books of 2021 – New Scientist’s Christmas gift guide

By Simon Ings Getty Images/iStockphoto The first rule of popular science is to reveal the wonder and mystery of the world. For that reason, Sentient (Picador), written by photographer and wildlife film-maker Jackie Higgins, is my personal pick of the year. It reveals how the 86 billion nerve cells in the human nervous system afford … Read more

Is our solar system a cosmic oddity? Evidence from exoplanets says yes

When we started finding planetary systems around other stars we thought many of them would be like ours. We’ve now found hundreds – and it’s so far, so wrong Space 1 December 2021 By Stuart Clark Duc LOng Once upon a time, there was a solar system. In it lived four small rocky planets called … Read more

Hubble takes amazing photos of the Prawn Nebula and a newborn star

By Gege Li Photograph Hubble Space Telescope These two spectacular images are some of the most recent shots of our solar system snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope. Its goals include investigating celestial bodies, such as planets and stars, and probing how our universe is evolving. Nasa, Esa, And J. Tan (Chalmers University Of Technology) … Read more

Hawaiian Soul review: An inspiring tale of environmental activism

An uplifting film tells the story of how George Jarrett Helm Jr became a leading voice in a movement for environmental and Indigenous rights in Hawaii Humans 1 December 2021 By Simon Ings The US military used Kaho’olawe as target practice for decades Courtesy of CCFF 2021/Hawaiian Soul Film Hawaiian Soul ‘Āina Paikai WHAT IS … Read more

Open Courses: Changing the Higher Education Scene

Want to take a course from M.I.T., one of the most revered technology schools in the world? You don’t have to have almost-perfect SAT scores, you don’t have to have a 4.0 GPA, you don’t have to pay the $50,000 tuition – in fact, you don’t even have to be enrolled as a student. Sound … Read more

It’s time to tuck your plants into a compost bed for winter

By Clare Wilson GAP Photos Winter and early spring are a good time of year for gardeners to enrich their soil with organic matter such as manure and compost. Many of the plants have died back, leaving more room to dig the material into the soil or making it easier to just lay it on … Read more

Why the myth of ‘wilderness’ harms both nature and humanity

Humans have affected every aspect of life on Earth – from hunting prehistoric beasts to changing the climate – and the illusion that pristine nature still exists undermines our efforts to make a better world, says environmental writer Emma Marris Earth 1 December 2021 A Hakea tree stands alone in the Australian outback during sunset. … Read more