By Colin Barras Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The first English people to settle permanently in the Americas included early scientists, known as chymis…
By Adam Vaughan Reef fishes are at risk as ocean water loses its dissolved oxygen Csaba Tokolyi/Getty Images The worlds oceans have lost around 2 per cent of their oxygen on average over half a century, alarming scientists who have warned of the trends imp…
By Leah Crane Comet Borisov Pieter van Dokkum Its comet 2I/Borisovs time to shine. The interstellar comet has been steadily getting brighter since it was first spotted in September, and now its reaching its brightest moments as it passes close to the sun a…
By Michael Le Page This piglet had some cells from a monkey but died within a week of birth Tang Hai Pig-primate chimeras have been born live for the first time but died within a week. The two piglets, created by a team in China, looked normal although a s…
By Donna Lu Breaking in, one number at a time PSL Images / Alamy Stock Photo A new record has been set for the largest encryption key ever cracked – though your secrets should be safe for now. Long strings of numbers are essential to the encryption that k…
By Chelsea Whyte Red flags are being hung outside homes in Samoa to indicate those who have not been vaccinated for measles Getty Images / Stringer Red flags are flying in Samoa, indicating the houses of people in need of a measles vaccine. An outbreak on…
By Graham Lawton Ivanov Arkady/Alamy Stock Photo ONE of my cats has died, and I am bereft. It wasn’t the one we expected to lose first, the saggy old ginger tom, but the much younger one who we thought had many years left in him. Turns out he had a weak hea…
By Mark Harris Orbit can be a dangerous place Konstantin Shaklein / Alamy Stock Photo NASA has been quietly helping select satellite companies avoid catastrophic collisions on orbit for a price. Documents obtained by New Scientist show that in September, …
By Michael Marshall A single gene that controls how our faces develop offers evidence that humans have evolved to be more domesticated JPM/Getty Images A single gene controls much of the development of the human face. The same gene is also involved in the …
By Jessica Hamzelou An oral contraceptive in the works would only need to be taken once a month Prostock-studio / Alamy Stock Photo An oral contraceptive capsule may only need to be taken once a month. In tests in pigs, the capsule slowly released a contra…
By Layal Liverpool An artist’s impression of the planet orbiting a white dwarf NASA/JPL-Caltech A giant planet is orbiting the remnants of an exploded star called a white dwarf 1200 light years away from Earth. The discovery is the first time an entire pla…
By Leah Crane The Parker Solar Probe is studying the sun NASA/John Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben NASAs Parker Solar Probe, which launched towards the sun in 2018, has sent back its first detailed measurements from closer to the stars surface than we have ever …