Why praying for rain appears to work – but only in some places 14. July 2026 (16:00) In some parts of the world, the probability of rain rises with every day it doesn’t rain, and communities in these places are more likely to carry out rain-making rituals(New Scientist)
The US-China AI arms race has taken an unexpected turn 14. July 2026 (13:00) Powerful artificial intelligence models built by Chinese companies have gone from inducing widespread panic to being met with a shrug of the shoulders – what changed? (New Scientist)
Do we owe our existence to weird ‘virtual’ particles? 14. July 2026 (12:00) When considering what makes up a human body, a physicist drills down beyond the atomic level. Columnist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein explores the not-exactly-real particles that allow the stuff we’re made of to hang together(New Scientist)
Maya mathematician’s name decoded alongside astronomical formula 14. July 2026 (01:01) Hieroglyphs on the wall of a Maya building record calculations concerning the orbits of Earth, Mars and Venus, as well as the name of a mathematician who wrote the text around 1200 years ago(New Scientist)
How humans evolved to be twice as big as our ancestors 13. July 2026 (19:00) Artistic representations of ancient humans often show large men with bulging muscles – but our ancestors were actually smaller than us, in both height and body mass. Columnist Michael Marshall reveals surprising details about the short kings of prehistory(New Scientist)
Sugar molecules found in interstellar space for the first time 13. July 2026 (17:00) Researchers have long suspected early life may have been helped by sugars brought to Earth by asteroids – now a sugar found in raspberries has been spotted in a cosmic cloud nearly 27 light years away(New Scientist)
Alzheimer’s, stroke, depression: The preventative power of sauna 13. July 2026 (17:00) Sustained heat stress is bad for our health and can be deadly. But we’re discovering that heat therapies like sauna, when used in the right way, have surprisingly wide-reaching benefits for health(New Scientist)
Game that reduces dementia risk may clear amyloid from men’s brains 13. July 2026 (13:52) Playing a mental speed-training game seems to help the brain clear a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease in men, but may work in women through different mechanisms(New Scientist)
