New Scientist Australian Edition

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Elsewhere on New Scientist

Boost from within • When preparing for pandemics, let’s not forget our own immune systems

New Scientist Australian Edition

Visitor from the outer reaches • A green comet usually found on the outskirts of the solar system has made its closest pass by Earth since the Stone Age, reports Leah Crane

Parental care may shape evolution • Animals that care for their young accumulate more genetic mutations in the population, which could have positive and negative consequences, reports Michael Le Page

DeepMind AI is as fast as humans at solving previously unseen tasks

Fishing partnership benefits dolphins and humans

Supernovae might be a good cue to hunt for alien signals

‘Love hormone’ not crucial for social bonding after all

Complex life began with teamwork • Brief alliances between simple organisms may have driven the evolution of multicellular ones

Bigfoot sightings rise where black bears are abundant

Tiny metal robot can melt its way out of tight spaces to escape

No-flicker flames could make engines more efficient

Analysis Health • Taxing sugary drinks is no sweet solution New evidence supports sugar taxes as a way to reduce childhood obesity, but the issue is more complicated than it seems, says Clare Wilson

How covid-19 affects the brain • The coronavirus can cause neurological symptoms. Research is starting to reveal how they occur and if they are treatable, reports Michael Marshall

Earth’s ‘thermostat’ can’t save us • Rock weathering historically kept the climate stable, but it won’t keep up with our emissions

ChatGPT can find and fix the bugs in computer code

Why ‘alcohol flush’ gene variant raises heart disease risk

Forbidden planet somehow escaped being eaten by star

Bats swabbed for viruses • Researchers are hunting for pathogens that could jump into humans

Wi-Fi signals can show how you’re standing

Device can image heart as you run

Synthetic skin better than the real thing

Dogs can tell if we mean well or if we are teasing them

Really brief

Altered images • Deepfakes are here to stay in film and TV. We need to accept that and deal with the legal and ethical implications, says Bethan Ackerley

Field notes from space-time • A matter of state Statistical mechanics helps relate the quantum world to objects that seem solid and not governed by observation, but questions remain, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Woolly jumpers

Your letters

The net tightens • The chilling story of the world’s most powerful spyware program should teach us that no one is safe from such systems. But will it, asks Simon Ings

A modern guide to sex • An authoritative yet user-friendly sexual behaviours manual is welcome. Shame about the lack of sex appeal, says Elle Hunt

Don’t miss

The sci-fi column • In the footsteps of giants Arch-Conspirator sees Veronica Roth retell Sophocles’s 2500-year-old Greek tragedy Antigone as a deceptively simple slice of science fiction. The result reminds us that human nature is timeless, says Sally Adee

Unleash your immunity

FOODS TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM

GET TO KNOW YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Murderous mongooses • Banded mongooses may look cute, but they have a propensity for extreme violence...