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The race to vaccinate as many people as possible against covid-19 is under way, but unless countries track who receives the vaccine we won’t be able to ensure the benefits are spread equitably, says Layal Liverpool
The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic
Fossils of a gigantic dinosaur are emerging from the ground in Argentina after 98 million years – and the creature may be the largest land animal that scientists have ever found
Entangled photons have been beamed between drones and to a ground station, creating technology that could form part of an unhackable quantum internet
For nearly two years, a heat probe attached to NASA’s InSight lander, nicknamed the mole, has been trying to burrow into the Martian surface – but now researchers have thrown in the towel
Fertilised eggs are set to be implanted in the two remaining northern white rhinos this year, with the hope of producing offspring
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
A seagrass that forms lush underwater meadows can naturally trap plastic items in ball-shaped tangles and remove them from the seawater
With fewer tourists flocking to see guillemot breeding sites in Sweden, white-tailed eagles have taken up residence nearby – spooking the seabirds so they raise fewer chicks
The noisy construction of offshore wind turbines can discourage squid from hunting, which could lead to decreased squid populations and potentially decrease profits at fisheries
Tau Ceti is a star just 12 light years away – and it could host a planet called PXP-4 that sits as close to the star as Earth does to our sun with its year about as long as ours
A painting showing three pigs has been discovered in an Indonesian cave. At more than 45,000 years old, it is the oldest known painting of animals anywhere in the world
Rising temperatures over the next 30 years could cause Earth’s tropical and temperate forests to switch from being carbon sinks to carbon sources that release greenhouse gases
Making changes to genes with CRISPR has the potential to cure diseases and feed the world, if we can learn to control it. Now it looks like viruses hold the solution
In Second Spring, an archaeologist who has developed a lesser-known form of dementia that alters her personality, unmasks her new life – to the dismay of friends and family
We’ve finally made a room-temperature superconductor, so materials that transport electricity without wasting any of it are within our grasp
Reading magazines back to front, plus where do all the teaspoons go and whether pyjamas affect productivity, in Feedback’s weird weekly round-up
New Scientist's weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss
This dazzling image shows the upgraded and more sensitive Advanced Virgo+ detector, which hunts for clues about the universe that are contained in gravitational waves
We have been in many last chance saloons with climate change, but there are now reasons to believe we might finally go out and take action, writes Graham Lawton
The podcast Life with Fire explores the wildfires a warming world will create – and why we need to involve everyone if we are going to learn how best to live with them
Vikings are rarely portrayed as a civilized people, but new game Assassin's Creed Valhalla has it both ways with people playing nice while still overrunning everything in sight, says Jacob Aron
A positive outlook, even just on the day of receiving a vaccine, as well as strong social ties and a happy relationship can help increase antibodies made in response to a shot
Solar cells treated with capsaicin, the compound that makes chilli peppers taste spicy, are more efficient at converting solar energy
A narrow focus on IQ to determine success is depriving us of key decision-making smarts, as our faltering response to problems such as covid-19 and climate change shows
A nanocrystal-coated lens can convert ultraviolet light into bright green, extending the range of people's vision
A prototype device can issue basic dog commands, use image recognition algorithms to check if they are carried out and provide a treat if they are
To vaccinate more people quickly, the UK is making people wait up to three months for a booster shot rather than the few weeks tested in trials. Here's what the evidence says about the situation
Some flies, including houseflies and blowflies, have specialised hindwings to help them take-off faster, making them trickier to catch
When telling a lie, people may inadvertently imitate the body language of the person they are lying to – a finding that might eventually lead to a new lie detection test
Astronomers spotted a quasar containing a supermassive black hole about 13 million light years away, which may shed light on how these colossal black holes form
The faster spreading coronavirus variant has officially reached nine US states and could soon cause a massive surge in covid-19 cases that makes the post-holiday spike look minimal, expert warns
Signs of the metals that make up Earth’s crust have been seen in the light coming from four dead stars known as white dwarfs, which may have consumed distant planets similar to ours
Demographic data about vaccination programmes could reveal problems early on. So far, no figures about ethnicity have been released in England, even though people from BAME backgrounds are at greater risk from covid-19
When supermassive black holes merge, they create a low thrum of gravitational waves that permeates the universe, and we may have just spotted it for the first time
Polyester fibres, probably from textile manufacturing and laundry, make up the majority of microplastic pollution in the Arctic
Australian authorities have responded to the first case of the UK coronavirus variant escaping quarantine hotels with a swift lockdown and additional measures in a bid to prevent an outbreak
Our galaxy may have slightly less dark matter than expected from theoretical estimates, according to a measurement of the acceleration of rapidly spinning stars
In Guam, invasive brown tree snakes have been seen doing a previously undocumented kind of movement – they make their bodies into a lasso shape that helps them climb metal poles holding up bird boxes
Biologists have used CRISPR gene editing to store information inside DNA in living bacterial cells, which could become a storage medium of the future
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has set a target of 15 February by which 13.9 million people in high-priority groups should be vaccinated against covid-19, but manufacturing, safety checks and distribution logistics will make that difficult
A team of two robots in development could plant a hectare of new forest in 5 to 6 hours. One of them will plant seedlings whilst the other removes vegetation
Ancient megalodon sharks may have been at least 2 metres long at birth – and they might have grown so large by eating unhatched eggs in the uterus
Corals are able to compensate for ocean acidification when in water of optimal temperature, but when exposed to heat stress, they are less resilient to acidification
The roots of human music may go back to our primate ancestors developing elaborate calls to advertise that they were willing and able to perform death-defying leaps from tree to tree
When magnetic fields around a black hole reconnect, they can slow down plasma particles near the event horizon, which cause the black hole to lose energy when it swallows them
The UK government is exploring the use of gene editing to modify food crops because the technique can improve the nutrition of crops through tiny DNA changes
The groundwater basins that provide water for much of the world's food production are in danger of becoming too salty due to human activity disrupting the flow of incoming freshwater
Last year was the joint hottest globally and by far the warmest year ever recorded in Europe, making the years from 2015 onwards the warmest six on record
We thought meteorites stopped delivering liquid water to Earth billions of years ago – but they may have continued to do so in the past million years
Adding energy to a wormhole connecting two universes can push it out of equilibrium, which may cause this exotic tunnel to get shorter and then fall apart
Hunter-gatherers may have had more meat than they could eat, which they shared with wolves – inadvertently beginning the domestication of dogs
More electric cars were sold last year than in the previous decade. Fossil fuel-powered cars are not yet consigned to the scrapheap, but they are travelling fast down a one-way road towards it, says Adam Vaughan
Two boys with lung cancer in Japan acquired the tumour cells from their mothers during or shortly before birth – an incredibly rare way of developing the disease
Reindeers that invest in the stock market, plus belly buttons on the moon and the word game that hates you, in Feedback’s weird weekly round-up
Our reporter, Donna Lu, joined the researchers who are attempting to regrow damaged parts of the Great Barrier Reef by collecting and incubating coral larvae
All the galaxies in the universe started out in a similar way, but the forms they now take are incredibly diverse, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Humans have faced pandemics before, but some unusual features of covid-19 and modern society have conspired to create the perfect storm this time
Documentary iHuman is thoroughly committed to an apocalyptic view of society in which we are in thrall to artificially intelligent machines. That is its strength – and its weakness, says Simon Ings
The coronavirus is a riddle on many levels, but what we do know is that the time for underestimating it is over
Dozens of cities around the world already provide free public transport for their residents. Many other places should get on board, says Richard Webb
New Scientist's weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss
Emerging technology comes with both upsides and downsides that we need to understand. Podcast Brave New Planet is a great place to start
Farms that grow metal-rich plants are cropping up around the world and promise a greener, less destructive alternative to mining for rare minerals
In Madagascar, huntsman spiders have been seen making traps out of overlapping leaves where tree frogs tend to hide, and then eating the frogs
CRISPR gene editing in mice has been used to correct a mutation that can cause rapid ageing, dramatically improving the animals' health and lifespan
When ride-sharing companies including Uber and Lyft begin operating in a city, there is a slight increase in car ownership on average, a study of US urban areas suggests
The new tunnel is intended to replace a congested road that disrupts the landscape around the prehistoric monument Stonehenge, but some argue it will cause irreparable damage to archaeological deposits
More people are cutting carbs and filling up on fat and protein to lose weight or get healthier – despite warnings about this boosting cholesterol. New Scientist investigates the true risks of low-carb life
Loss of smell and taste is one of the most consistent symptoms of covid-19, and this anosmia reveals important details about how the coronavirus works
Much of the devastating flooding caused by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas may have been triggered by aerosol pollution released from nearby petrochemical plants
Mutated variants of the coronavirus making their way around the world are causing covid-19 to spread faster, and one may be able to partially evade current vaccines
As they swim, jellyfish make a pocket of high-pressure water under their bell, which serves as a kind of wall to push off to help them swim faster
Coronavirus vaccine roll-out cannot happen fast enough as second and third waves of covid-19 continue to grow around the world, and countries that had coronavirus under control are now losing their grip
An OpenAI neural network creates outlandish images – armchairs shaped like avocados or dinosaurs in tuxedos – from a few words of text
A fossil of a small dinosaur has been found on top of eggs containing late-stage embryos that developed at body temperature, confirming that some dinosaurs brooded eggs like birds
Irish soda bread appears to work as a scaffold for growing muscle and bone cells, and could eventually help in producing factory-grown meat
Koala populations in parts of Australia are being controlled to prevent them eating their main food source – manna gum trees – to extinction
Many African countries applied for covid-19 vaccines through the COVAX initiative, but lack of funding could leave them without enough vaccines to reach herd immunity until 2024
A haul of more than 100 ancient human bones found in a cave in South Africa may belong to a previously undiscovered human species
Fish in the North Sea are growing faster as juveniles but ending up smaller as adults. The pattern seems to be linked to rising sea temperatures
DeepMind's co-founder says artificial intelligence is set to crack many of the toughest problems in science, from the nature of life to nuclear fusion
We know too well the dangers of pandemic-causing viruses and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but deadly fungal infections that can shrug off our best treatments are on the rise too
Eating predominantly uncooked food is a fad that goes back hundreds of years, but not one we need to follow, writes James Wong
Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor, The Expert System’s Champion by Adrian Tchaikovsky and The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers are exciting sci-fi books we're looking forward to in 2021
From Bill Gates's How to Avoid a Climate Disaster to Chiara Marletto's revolutionary recasting of physics, The Science of Can and Can't, 2021 is a blockbuster year for popular science books
Films Top Gun: Maverick, Dune and Babylon, as well as TV documentaries about Greta Thunberg and Stephen Hawking are all due to be released in 2021
How big is the universe? What shape is it? How fast is it expanding? And when will it end? We answer these questions and more in our essential guide to the current state of cosmological knowledge
The maths of waiting for an elevator, plus the strange plan to melt the Arctic in Feedback’s weekly weird round-up
Despite mounting evidence that we eat, drink and breathe microplastics it still isn't clear if they enter our bodies and cause harm, but in 2021 we should get some answers
February 2021 will see three missions arriving at Mars: the Hope orbiter from the United Arab Emirates, the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission and NASA's Perseverance rover
Major climate summits delayed in 2020 are back on in 2021, offering several big opportunities to confront the climate emergency
We have a coronavirus vaccine, but normal life is still some way off. In the meantime, here are the big issues facing us in the months ahead
A lazy fix to the Y2K bug caused software issues when the date rolled over to 2020. Later this year, programmers also avoided a Y2038 bug, pushing the problem back to 2486
Coprolites, or fossilised faeces, have always been slippery customers. But now we can use X-rays to see inside them, they are yielding fresh insights into ancient ecosystems
Pattern-seeking artificial intelligence promises a new way to decode animal languages from dog to whale. Our relationship with our furry and flippered friends may never be the same
While progress has been made on nuclear fusion, efforts to harness the process that powers the sun were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, so the energy source remains decades away
An object spotted near Earth in January has since been confirmed as a temporary moon around 1.2 metres long that has now drifted away
The idea of universal basic income, which would see everyone receive a regular sum of money from the government regardless of status, has become more popular following successful trials and the coronavirus pandemic
Enthusiasm for trees as a way to mitigate climate change seems to have waned, as pledges to plant millions have fallen short this year