New Scientist Australian Edition

New Scientist covers the latest developments in science and technology that will impact your world. New Scientist employs and commissions the best writers in their fields from all over the world. Our editorial team provide cutting-edge news, award-winning features and reports, written in concise and clear language that puts discoveries and advances in the context of everyday life today and in the future.

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Virus-driven progress • Covid-19-spurred medical advances are great, but we can’t return to business as usual

New Scientist Australian Edition

Brazil fears covid collapse • The country is buckling under record coronavirus cases and poor governance, while Chile enters strict lockdown, reports Luke Taylor

How much worse can variants get? • The coronavirus could turn into just another cold, but it could also evolve into something much deadlier, reports Michael Le Page

The covid-19 risk from our pets

A third of UK population might not be protected from third wave

Meditation can help with covid-19 anxiety • Meditation could retune our brains and help us cope with the long-term effects of the pandemic, neurologist Steven Laureys tells Helen Thomson

Heat pipes helped shrink Mercury • Magma travelling from the planet’s core to its surface led to cooling

Hotter and drier days could make wildfires a big threat in the UK

A plant gene crossed into insects and helps them feed

GM crops could greatly reduce EU carbon emissions

Artificial cells can grow and split like natural bacteria

DNA explains why some rabbits walk on their front legs

US desert is a bee hotspot • Hundreds of bee species live in a patch of land on the US-Mexico border

UK hydrogen vehicle switch would need boost to wind power

Ancient rattlesnake lived in the jaw of a mastodon

NFT developers call for cut in carbon emissions

Black hole image reveals its swirling magnetic fields

A sign of new physics? • Reports that a discovery at the Large Hadron Collider could poke holes in our understanding of the universe should beware tricky statistics, says Richard Webb

Robot ties knots using two fingers on each arm

Snoozing octopuses seem to slip in and out of dreams

Sheepskin was a fine way to spot fraudsters

Prehistoric delivery kept miners well fed

Clues to why human brains grow so large

Tiny swimbots get a steer from a ‘brain’

Lake toxin may be to blame for US eagle deaths

Really brief

An unsung hero • Mary Wortley Montagu championed the use of inoculation against smallpox, but her pioneering work is often overlooked, says Jo Willett

The many mysteries that remain • The standard model of particle physics explains a lot of observations, but the strange nature of neutrinos isn’t one of them, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Your letters

Extreme moments on Earth

Smells good, tastes good! • Why do flavour and aroma matter so much to creatures like us? Simon Ings finds out in Delicious, a charming new book with a compelling message

Getting creative in space • Will we soon 3D print our lunch or spare parts for surgery? A great podcast explores the latest in engineering, finds Gege Li

Don’t miss

What do genes and love make? • When a company develops a test that can reveal your perfect partner, the result is plenty of drama and intrigue, finds Abigail Chandler

A black hole in our backyard • Black holes born in the big bang could transform our view of the universe. Is there one lurking on the fringes of the solar system, asks Stuart Clark

Your first line of defence • A breakthrough in understanding the more ancient part of our immune system could change...