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Editor's picks

Humans

Was it just luck that our species survived and the Denisovans didn’t?

Space

Dyson spheres: How to spot an alien megastructure

Humans

Gaslighting warps our view of reality. How to spot it 鈥� and fight back

Humans

The other humans: The emerging story of the mysterious Denisovans

Table of contents

Leaders

Humans

Was it just luck that our species survived and the Denisovans didn’t?

For millennia, our species advanced in lockstep with the Denisovans and it is hard to work out from archaeological finds why they disappeared from the planet while we now dominate it

News

Stella Kyriakides

Health

EU begins to clamp down on vaccine exports as supplies fall short

Vaccine-makers are set to deliver fewer coronavirus vaccine doses to the European Union than expected, leading the bloc to require pharmaceutical firms to notify it before exporting vaccines

Health

How much does one coronavirus vaccine dose protect you and others?

Health

Covid-19 outbreak in Manaus suggests herd immunity may not be possible

Health

New coronavirus variants detected in sewage before showing up in tests

Humans

How social media can nudge people into becoming conspiracy theorists

Environment

Nearly 700 million people could be living in extreme drought by 2100

Technology

AI can tell what song you are listening to from your brainwaves

Environment

Climate impact on childhood diet may undermine food security efforts

Environment

Strange fossil is the first to show an ammonite without its shell

Earth

Volcano in Ecuador can trigger avalanches that travel 60 kilometres

Physics

Quantum hyperchaos could help build better quantum computers

Technology

AI can grade your skill at piano by watching you play

Health

CRISPR-like tool for RNA editing could temporarily alter your proteins

Physics

Physicists find best way for insects to avoid collisions when jumping

Space

Astronomers spot amazing six-star system with three sets of eclipses

Environment

People buying SUVs are cancelling out climate gains from electric cars

Life

A quarter of all known bee species haven’t been seen since the 1990s

Technology

Watch a robot squid propel itself through water with rhythm

Humans

Recruiters less likely to contact ethnic minority groups on Swiss site

Male mantises fight to avoid being eaten

Calorie count higher on low-carb diets

Lynx question for people in Scotland

Space

Puzzling signal on Saturn鈥檚 moon Rhea may finally be explained

Humans

Extroverts have more success training their dogs than introverts

Life

Stunning fossil suggests dinosaurs lured mates with smell and vision

Analysis

Nurses work on patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in St George's Hospital

Health

UK coronavirus variant deadlier but researchers say no need to panic

It appears the UK's B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant is slightly more deadly and more transmissible than other variants, but improved treatments may limit the risk of death if you are infected

Health

An unscientific debate over breast milk is spilling into food banks

Humans

No, native plants aren’t always the best choice for gardens

Aperture

Space

Rare images show role of collisions in galactic evolution

These six rare and exquisite images of galactic evolution were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. They show what happens when galaxies collide and merge

Features

Humans

The other humans: The emerging story of the mysterious Denisovans

The existence of the Denisovans was discovered just a decade ago through DNA alone. Now we're starting to uncover fossils and artefacts revealing what these early humans were like

Humans

Gaslighting warps our view of reality. How to spot it 鈥� and fight back

Space

Dyson spheres: How to spot an alien megastructure

Culture

Over 1.5 million flamingos gather on the soda flats of Lake Natron in northern Tanzania

Life

A Perfect Planet review: Attenborough’s new show is one of his best

David Attenborough documentary A Perfect Planet blends earth science with dazzling images of flamingos, finches and frogs to reveal how natural forces have nurtured life

Environment

Why using rare metals to clean up the planet is no cheap fix

Don鈥檛 Miss: Space Sweepers, a South Korean blockbuster on Netflix

Humans

Last and First Men review: An epic 2-billion-year history of humanity

More

Humans

How to make compost 鈥� your scientific guide

From the right ratio of green and brown waste to regular aeration, here are some top tips for making compost, writes Clare Wilson

Twisteddoodle’s ideas for scented candles in scientific development

Tom Gauld’s runaway lobster telephone problem

Regulars

Catnip as a mosquito repellent… What could go wrong?

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

This Week鈥檚 Letters

How do lichens survive on baking hot roofs?

Are birds that walk more advanced than those that hop? (continued)

Why is the noise so loud when bottles drop into the recycling hopper?

This week鈥檚 new questions

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