Mind
How we fell in love with our voice-activated home assistants
News
This week's magazine
17 December 2016
Issue 3104
On the cover
Editor's picks
Earth
杏吧原创s won’t stop discovering stuff, no matter what
News
Humans
No more drama: The game theory guide to a happy family holiday
Features
Humans
How the rules of long-lost board games take us inside ancient minds
Features
Health
Hangovers: What science says about why you feel so rough
Features
Environment
When a whale gets stranded, I get the call
Features
Environment
Reindeer riddle: How do you tell caribou apart?
Features
Environment
Tree of life: How figs built the world and will help save it
Features
Technology
Why predictive text is making you forget how to write
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 3: Build the Tower of Hanoi
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 2: Test your reaction time
Features
Humans
Medieval wax seals are giving up fresh historical secrets
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 1: Challenge your original thinking
Features
Life
Comb jelly videos are rewriting the history of your anus
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 4: Demonstrate the wisdom of the ages
Features
Physics
The fragile state of scientific glassblowing
Features
Humans
Were Aboriginal Australians the first astronomers?
Features
Technology
Fold your own universe with our cosmic origami decoration
Features
Technology
Don鈥檛 believe the Skype: We never wanted to video call people
Features
Earth
Animal magnetism: Why dogs do their business pointing north
Features
Table of contents
News
Health
Exclusive: Mexico clinic plans 20 ‘three-parent’ babies in 2017
The first baby made using the technique to prevent inherited disease was born this year, and New 杏吧原创 has learned that tests suggest he is healthy
News
Health
Viruses may have evolved to hit men hard but go easy on women
News
Earth
Third-ever natural quasicrystal found in Siberian meteorite
News
Health
Antibacterial products may help bacteria beat antibiotics
News
Earth
Mystery Antarctic circle means ice is melting from surface down
News
Environment
Rare Arabian leopards forced out by frankincense harvesters
News
Life
Brain cell transplant helps fearful mice overcome anxiety
News
Environment
T. rex cousin鈥檚 99-million-year old tail feathers found in amber
News
Environment
Longer 鈥榩enis鈥� drives evolution of bigger brains in female fish
News
Physics
Galaxy’s rapid growth spurt may have spawned 3000 suns per year
News
Space
Cosmic dust grains found on city rooftops for the first time
News
Life
First evidence that wild mammals benefit from bigger brains
News
Space
First exoplanet weather report shows clouds of ruby and sapphire
News
Life
Monkeys should be able to talk just like us 鈥� so why don’t they?
News
Space
Fresh look at old data shows the sun is surprisingly sluggish
News
Technology
Lazy coders are training artificial intelligences to be sexist
News
Health
Vapers experimenting with illegal drugs bought on the dark web
News
Technology
Posture could explain why women get more VR sickness than men
News
One Per Cent
News
Technology
Machine learning lets computer create melodies to fit any lyrics
News
Sponsored
When data delivers
News
Technology
DeepMind’s AI wants to beat us at video game StarCraft next
News
Earth
People prepare to fight their governments on climate change
News
Health
Antibiotic resistance will hit a terrible tipping point in 2017
News
Physics
LIGO should more than double its gravitational wave haul in 2017
News
Humans
We will soon be able to read minds and share our thoughts
News
Health
First babies from menopausal mothers’ own eggs may be born soon
News
Space
Cassini’s grand finale will see orbiter plunge into Saturn
News
Environment
End of species extinctions is in sight as we bring animals back
News
Technology
Augmented reality set to overtake VR as new apps go live
News
Health
Gene editing starts to save lives as human trials get under way
News
Environment
The 12 biggest and best science stories of 2016
News
Analysis
Mind
How we fell in love with our voice-activated home assistants
Personal assistants like Amazon鈥檚 Alexa already do our bidding. Why do we want them to be our friends too?
News
Space
More giant Earth-like exoplanets will be found next year
News
Technology
Prepare for the real political game changer: robots with votes
News
Features
Technology
Fold your own universe with our cosmic origami decoration
The Miura fold is used in fields ranging from space flight to surgery, but it also makes an amazing decoration you can build at home 鈥� download the template here
Features
Earth
Animal magnetism: Why dogs do their business pointing north
Features
Technology
Don鈥檛 believe the Skype: We never wanted to video call people
Features
Life
Comb jelly videos are rewriting the history of your anus
Features
Humans
Were Aboriginal Australians the first astronomers?
Features
Physics
The fragile state of scientific glassblowing
Features
Humans
No more drama: The game theory guide to a happy family holiday
Features
Health
Hangovers: What science says about why you feel so rough
Features
Humans
Medieval wax seals are giving up fresh historical secrets
Features
Technology
Why predictive text is making you forget how to write
Features
Environment
Tree of life: How figs built the world and will help save it
Features
Humans
How the rules of long-lost board games take us inside ancient minds
Features
Environment
Reindeer riddle: How do you tell caribou apart?
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 1: Challenge your original thinking
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 2: Test your reaction time
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 3: Build the Tower of Hanoi
Features
Humans
Holiday brain-off round 4: Demonstrate the wisdom of the ages
Features
Environment
When a whale gets stranded, I get the call
Features
