Shocking turtle photo reveals efforts to combat illegal wildlife trade 13. May 2026 (20:00) Winner of an environmental photography award, this shot of a sea turtle seen under ultraviolet light shows how forensic evidence is being used to help catch poachers and animal traffickers(New Scientist)
Arctic fires are releasing carbon stored for thousands of years 13. May 2026 (20:00) A study of soils around the Arctic and boreal forests has found that some wildfires are releasing carbon stored over millennia, meaning higher CO2 emissions than assumed(New Scientist)
Suzanne Simard on the wood wide web, connectedness – and Avatar 13. May 2026 (20:00) Rowan Hooper met ecologist Suzanne Simard under an oak tree in Kew Gardens, London, to talk about her new book, criticism of her work, and getting a call from James Cameron's people(New Scientist)
New Scientist recommends a smart new account of human exceptionalism 13. May 2026 (20:00) Why did humans decide they weren't like other animals, or animals at all? Has this exceptionalism twisted us out of shape? Michael Bond's book Animate offers a page-turning account of where we are now(New Scientist)
Science doesn't have a monopoly on good ideas 13. May 2026 (20:00) Scientific disciplines often shy away from asking fundamental "what if" questions. But philosophy – if unencumbered by dogma or ideology – has much to offer evidence-based enquiry(New Scientist)
Asteroid to miss Earth by a quarter of the length from us to the moon 13. May 2026 (18:08) Asteroid 2026JH2 will zoom past Earth at a distance of only 90,000 kilometres next week. It has enough mass to wipe out a city, but simulations suggest there is no chance of an impact for at least the next century(New Scientist)
Asteroid set to fly very close to Earth 13. May 2026 (18:08) Asteroid 2026JH2 has enough mass to wipe out a city and will zoom past Earth next week(New Scientist)
Why autism pioneer Uta Frith wants to dismantle the spectrum 13. May 2026 (18:00) After a career spent grappling with the neural underpinnings of autism, Uta Frith is unwavering in her controversial call to scrap our current view of the condition and start again(New Scientist)
Ancient teeth hint at links between Denisovans and Homo erectus 13. May 2026 (18:00) Six teeth roughly 400,000 years old have yielded some of the first ancient proteins thought to belong to Homo erectus, providing molecular clues to their relationships with other hominins(New Scientist)
