Did something just hit Saturn? Astronomers are racing to find out 07. July 2025 (17:10) Around seven asteroids or comets are thought to hit Saturn ever year, but we have never spotted one in the act. Now, it seems one astronomer may have caught the moment of impact and the hunt is on for other images to verify the discovery(New Scientist)
AI could be about to completely change the way we do mathematics 07. July 2025 (12:00) Computers can help ensure that mathematical proofs are correct, but translating traditional maths into a machine-readable format is an arduous task. Now, the latest generation of artificial intelligence models is taking on the job, and could change the face of maths research(New Scientist)
'Hybrid' skull may have been a child of Neanderthal and Homo sapiens 07. July 2025 (11:45) The skull of a 5-year-old girl who lived 140,000 years ago has similarities with modern Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, suggesting her parents might have belonged to different species(New Scientist)
Fig trees may benefit climate by turning carbon dioxide into stone 06. July 2025 (02:01) Some carbon dioxide absorbed by fig trees gets turned into calcium carbonate within the wood and the surrounding soil, ensuring that the carbon is kept out of the air for longer(New Scientist)
Ancient mass extinction shows how Earth turned into a super-greenhouse 04. July 2025 (19:00) A study of fossils from the Permian-Triassic extinction event 252 million years ago shows that forests in many parts of the world were wiped out, disrupting the carbon cycle and ensuring that Earth remained hot for millions of years(New Scientist)
Cyberattacks could exploit home solar panels to disrupt power grids 04. July 2025 (17:00) The growth of domestic solar installations opens the possibility of hackers targeting their smart inverter devices as a way to cause widespread power-system failures(New Scientist)
We finally understand why quasicrystals can exist 04. July 2025 (16:00) Not quite crystals and not quite a glass, quasicrystals are an oddity whose properties are not well understood – but now we know how they can remain stable(New Scientist)
Quantum-enhanced supercomputers are starting to do chemistry 04. July 2025 (15:00) Working in tandem, a quantum computer and a supercomputer modelled the behaviour of several molecules, paving the way for useful applications in chemistry and pharmaceutical research(New Scientist)
