Gaze-tracking devices normally rely on cameras, but a new system uses reflected sound to track where someone is looking based on the shape of their eyeballs | Continue reading
What better way is there to celebrate pi day than with a slice of mathematics? Here are 7 mathematical facts to enjoy | Continue reading
Artificial intelligence has been used to replicate fragrances more quickly than conventional methods, even taking into account how a scent fades over time | Continue reading
Many people experience ongoing pain even after a urinary tract infection has supposedly passed. Now, research suggests this may be due to an overgrowth of nerve cells in their bladders | Continue reading
Cosmic dust grains may be small, but they are mighty – it turns out dust is crucial to just about every process that occurs in space | Continue reading
A fear of predators may have helped many animals recognise when they weren't there. Now, it seems humans built on this understanding of absence to utilise the concept of "zero" | Continue reading
As part of a lawsuit against OpenAI, billionaire Elon Musk has asked a court to determine whether GPT-4 is an artificial general intelligence, capable of human-level tasks | Continue reading
Since Brexit, the UK no longer has access to ITER, the world's largest nuclear fusion experiment, through the European Union. After an invitation to rejoin this week, the UK government has confirmed it prefers to go it alone | Continue reading
With a new Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mars-set romance from Natasha Pulley and a high-concept thriller from Stuart Turton due to hit shelves, there is plenty of great new science fiction to be reading in March | Continue reading
When the faecal matter produced by plankton sinks, it carries carbon from shallow waters to long-term storage deep in the ocean – now, researchers want to make the stuff sink faster | Continue reading
23andMe's DNA test was once named "invention of the year", but now the company is in dire financial straits. Is this a sign that genetically based medicine's promise has been exaggerated? | Continue reading
Between 1990 and 2022, obesity rates more than doubled among adults and quadrupled among children and adolescents worldwide | Continue reading
A climate model has forecast where the most extreme heat will occur during the current El Niño phase, including the Caribbean and the South China Sea | Continue reading
For the first time in nearly a century, a new genus of plant has been discovered in Japan, but it looks more like a squid or an alien than a plant | Continue reading
In a small study, people with type 2 diabetes maintained their weight loss on the low-carbohydrate ketogenic for a year after they stopped using Ozempic or similar medications | Continue reading
The UK's JET nuclear fusion reactor has been shut down after 40 years, and now researchers hope to repurpose many of its components in a world-first attempt at recycling a tokamak reactor | Continue reading
A fermentation experiment on the International Space Station produced miso paste with a flavour distinct from two samples that were fermented on Earth | Continue reading
If an unfamiliar person spends 15 minutes following a dog, it tends to follow them back in a possible sign of friendship | Continue reading
Chatbots vary their answers depending on the exact wording used to prompt them, and now it seems that asking an AI to answer as if it were a Star Trek captain boosts its mathematical ability | Continue reading
An exoplanet called K2-18b has been suggested as a good place to look for alien life, but a new analysis shows it is probably made from gas | Continue reading
Hyaluronic acid's skincare benefits are often attributed to its supposed ability to hold 1000 times its weight in water, which new research has discredited | Continue reading
A large UK study suggests people who had been infected with covid-19 experienced some cognitive decline, but the findings are far from definitive | Continue reading
Researchers have identified 26 chemical compounds responsible for the flavour of oranges, which could help efforts to develop disease-resistant hybrids | Continue reading
Ahead of the total solar eclipse in North America, here is everything you need to know about solar and lunar eclipses | Continue reading
Smell has unrivalled emotional power. As such, the art of olfaction is rightfully being included in a new multisensory performance, says perfumer Mathilde Laurent | Continue reading
We are beginning to see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to threats from chatbots. In a huge election year, how will AI affect upcoming votes, asks Alex Wilkins | Continue reading
New research suggests that a greater appreciation of science could bring the same health benefits that religion can provide for believers. David Robson goes looking for awe | Continue reading
Film-maker Ian Cheney built an ark on his parents' land in Maine as a visual metaphor to help him explore the hubris of keeping anything from our modern world – and why we would think even our fragile digital world could last | Continue reading
The archaeologist's latest book on what bones teach us about Britain's history not only provides the grisly facts, but helps us feel them | Continue reading
Feedback is entranced by researchers' detailed study of cat behaviour during a "feline exposition", which shows the cats were mainly sleeping, resting and looking around | Continue reading
Livestock farming is a major source of carbon emissions and damage to biodiversity, so the advent of gene-edited animals reared for meat that can help address these issues is good news | Continue reading
The dramatic increase in mental health issues among children in the US may be down to the way therapy culture has invaded family and school life, argues Abigail Shrier in her new book | Continue reading
These photographs show the scale of the work that goes into painting the NASA logo on spacecraft as they are readied for an epic new moon mission | Continue reading
An experimental treatment for Alzheimer's disease involving sounds and flickering lights has shown promise in mice and people. Now, research suggests the novel approach ramps up our brain’s waste disposal networks | Continue reading
A new formula for lithium-ion batteries could help electric vehicles drive farther and charge faster even at extreme sub-zero temperatures | Continue reading
Looking after your skin isn't just a vanity project, with growing evidence that damage to the skin can drive ageing, inflammation and even cognitive decline | Continue reading
Placing magnetic particles inside water droplets lets the liquid climb steps, hop over small objects and jump-start chemical reactions | Continue reading
Tap water contains tiny particles of plastic and we don’t know how they affect our health – now it seems that boiling the water for 5 minutes can remove most of them | Continue reading
Sausage-shaped pyrosomes are blooming in great numbers during marine heatwaves, but their success comes at the cost of other animals, including fish | Continue reading
It is said that the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras came up with the idea that musical note combinations sound best in certain mathematical ratios, but that doesn't seem to be true | Continue reading
When lots of freshwater from Greenland pours into the North Atlantic Ocean, it triggers feedback loops that lead to hotter and drier weather in Europe, according to a study of the past 40 years | Continue reading
A study estimating humpback whale numbers in the North Pacific Ocean from crowdsourced photos reveals a sharp decline from 2012 to 2021 after decades of slow population growth | Continue reading
North America will have a total solar eclipse on 8 April – here is where, when and how to view it safely | Continue reading
YouTube's recommendation algorithm previously pushed users towards viewing ever more extreme videos, but now it steers people away from such content | Continue reading
Using an artificial intelligence model and 3D printer to create prosthetic eyes reduces the time required to make such implants, which could make them available to more people | Continue reading
The jeans industry uses harmful chemicals to dye denim with indigo, but an alternative process can achieve the same thing with 92 per cent less environmental impact | Continue reading
Learning a psychological trick to overcome your brain's tendency to stop noticing things could help you love your old clothes, notice the effects of climate change and fix gender biases, says neuroscientist Tali Sharot | Continue reading
With queues at public charging points getting longer, some companies are opening power swap stations where you can simply exchange your battery for a fully charged one | Continue reading