A soldier returned from the Sahara desert in 1916 with a wild story about a meteorite that dwarfed all others. Over 100 years of hunting yielded nothing – but now twin brothers think they have solved ...

A 1989 experiment offered the promise of nuclear fusion without the need for high temperatures, but this "cold fusion" was quickly debunked. Now, some of the techniques involved have been resurrected ...

Engineers have developed a class of origami structures that unfold in one smooth motion to create flower-like shapes, which could have applications in space

Engineers have developed a class of origami structures that unfold in one smooth motion to create flower-like shapes, which could have applications in space

A material made from bacterial cellulose alters its insulating properties in dry and moist conditions, which could help you stay a comfortable temperature whatever the weather

A bright flash of radio waves from 3 billion years after the big bang is illuminating parts of the universe that astronomers can’t normally see

The quickest way to win the board game Guess Who? involves asking sneaky questions that involve a logical paradox, according to mathematicians

Earlier this year, astronomers reported possible evidence of life on another planet – but new observations from JWST suggest the apparent biosignature isn’t there after all

Stars uncontaminated by heavier elements are thought to have formed very early in the universe, but a galaxy much later in cosmic history might let us see them for the first time

With fast heating, sheets of gold can shoot past the theoretical maximum temperature a solid can have before it melts – raising questions about what the true limits are

An expedition in the Red Sea found several brine pools that appear to be fed by underwater volcanoes, which may be home to microbes and animals with unique adaptations

The origins of plate tectonics on Earth are hotly debated, but evidence from Australia now shows that parts of the crust moved in relation to each other as early as 3.5 billion years ago

Something strange happens to water as it moves through the stems of horsetail plants – and this unique process provides valuable clues for understanding past and present ecosystems

Are there aliens living on the exoplanet K2-18b? Some astronomers believe they have evidence for molecules on the planet that must have a biological origin, but others disagree

The makers of an AI model called Foresight say it could help predict disease or hospitalisation rates, but others have expressed concern about the fact it is trained on millions of health records

The report of possible biosignatures on the exoplanet K2-18b is exciting, but we are a long way from establishing beyond doubt that there is life on such a distant world

D-Wave's claim that its quantum computers can solve problems that would take hundreds of years on classical machines have been undermined by two separate research groups showing that even an ordinary ...

Analysis of samples brought back to Earth from the asteroid Bennu reveal that it has a bizarre chemical make-up and is unusually magnetic

Wearable technology could go beyond smartwatches to items of clothing that monitor large parts of your body

The electrons in a twisted piece of graphene show a strange repeating pattern first predicted in 1976, but never directly measured until now

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is about to launch a number of missions, including a private lunar lander, a lunar satellite for NASA and a prospecting probe for an asteroid-mining company

NASA's Juno spacecraft swooped in for a close look at a massive thunderstorm on Jupiter, revealing that it may have similarities to storms on Earth

New observations have dramatically reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032, lowering the risk to the planet to minimal levels, but the extraordinary close approach will now offe...

Using AI to produce footage of video games with a consistent world and rules could prove useful to game designers

The gas giant WASP-121b, also known as Tylos, has an atmospheric structure unlike any we have ever seen, and the fastest winds on any planet

Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a small chance of hitting Earth in 2032, but as astronomers make more observations about its trajectory, the odds of a collision seem to be increasing

For more than 40 years, Jonathan McDowell has tirelessly catalogued the space industry. Now he is planning to retire, and looking to pass on his extensive collection of knowledge

A rocky planet less than half the mass of Earth seems to have an atmosphere made almost entirely of sulphur dioxide – this could be due to a huge amount of volcanic activity

The Quipu superstructure is enormous, spanning 1.4 billion light years – and it could violate one of our fundamental assumptions about the universe

A prosthetic hand that weighs about half that of a human hand also enables wearers to carry out intricate tasks, such as tying knots

The risk of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth seems to be creeping up as astronomers gather more data, but does that mean we should be scrambling to prepare for an impact in 2032?

If you have the patience to repeatedly switch an egg between a hot and a colder pan, you'll be rewarded with an amazing taste and texture, say physicists

A double layer of tungsten diselenide behaves as a superconductor at very low temperatures, which could suggest a new route to developing materials that do so at room temperature

Urine is rich in nitrogen, which is important for plant growth, and now scientists have found an efficient way of utilising this to make human wastewater into fertiliser

Observations of WASP-127b, a giant gas exoplanet more than 500 light years from Earth, suggest it has phenomenally high wind speeds

After a close look with a powerful radio telescope, astronomers are still puzzled by a pair of objects with strange characteristics first spotted in 2021

A flying robot the size of a postage stamp can hover for up to 15 minutes without breaking, and it can perform acrobatic manoeuvres

Blue Origin and SpaceX both launched rockets on 16 January, but while Jeff Bezos' company saw a launch success with New Glenn, Elon Musk's Starship exploded. What does this mean for the future of the ...

Trained pianists who hit a plateau improved their finger speed after a half-hour training session with a device that moves their fingers for them

Two companies, Firefly Aerospace and ispace, are aiming to make the second and third successful private landings on the moon - and both are launching on the same Falcon 9 rocket

A new technique involving lasers can measure long distances more precisely than ever, which could be useful for space telescopes

Regular pulses of X-ray radiation emanating from a supermassive black hole could be explained by a white dwarf star on the verge of falling in

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) should be visible from the southern hemisphere, and possibly also the northern hemisphere, over the next few days

The classic Italian cacio e pepe pasta is notoriously tricky to get right, but physicists have come up with a trick to achieve a perfectly smooth cheese sauce

The BepiColombo spacecraft is due to start orbiting Mercury next year, but a recent flyby has captured breathtaking images of its pockmarked surface

Every fundamental particle in the universe fits into one of two groups called fermions and bosons, but now it seems there could be other particles out there that break this simple classification and w...

Jeff Bezos’s space company is about to launch New Glenn, a reusable rocket intended to rival SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, for the first time