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This week's magazine

5 July 2025

Issue 3550

ÐÔÊӽ紫ý issue 3550 cover
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FUNAFUTI, TUVALU - NOVEMBER 28: An aerial view of downtown and the airport runway, between the Pacific Ocean (L) and lagoon (R), on November 28, 2019 in Funafuti, Tuvalu. The??low-lying??South Pacific island nation??of about 11,000 people has been classified as ???extremely vulnerable??? to climate change by the??United Nations Development Programme.??The world???s fourth-smallest country is struggling to cope with climate change related impacts including five millimeter per year sea level rise (above the global average), tidal and wave driven flooding, storm surges, rising temperatures, saltwater intrusion and coastal erosion on its nine coral atolls and islands, the highest of which rises about 15 feet above sea level. In addition, the severity of cyclones and droughts in the Pacific Island region are forecast to increase due to global warming. Some scientists have predicted that Tuvalu could become inundated and uninhabitable in 50 to 100 years or less if sea level rise continues.??The country is working toward a goal of 100 percent renewable power generation by 2025 in an effort to curb pollution and set an example for larger nations. Tuvalu is also exploring a plan to build an artificial island. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Environment

The Australia-Tuvalu climate migration treaty is a drop in the ocean

Comment

Health

You’ve been sold a giant myth when it comes to improving your health

Features
2XTY93C Sparking Tesla Coil

Physics

Solving the 250-year-old puzzle of how static electricity works

Features
The remarkable tale of how humans nearly didn’t conquer the world

Humans

The remarkable tale of how humans nearly didn’t conquer the world

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

FUNAFUTI, TUVALU - NOVEMBER 28: An aerial view of downtown and the airport runway, between the Pacific Ocean (L) and lagoon (R), on November 28, 2019 in Funafuti, Tuvalu. The??low-lying??South Pacific island nation??of about 11,000 people has been classified as ???extremely vulnerable??? to climate change by the??United Nations Development Programme.??The world???s fourth-smallest country is struggling to cope with climate change related impacts including five millimeter per year sea level rise (above the global average), tidal and wave driven flooding, storm surges, rising temperatures, saltwater intrusion and coastal erosion on its nine coral atolls and islands, the highest of which rises about 15 feet above sea level. In addition, the severity of cyclones and droughts in the Pacific Island region are forecast to increase due to global warming. Some scientists have predicted that Tuvalu could become inundated and uninhabitable in 50 to 100 years or less if sea level rise continues.??The country is working toward a goal of 100 percent renewable power generation by 2025 in an effort to curb pollution and set an example for larger nations. Tuvalu is also exploring a plan to build an artificial island. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Environment

The Australia-Tuvalu climate migration treaty is a drop in the ocean

Australia has offered a lifeline to the people of Tuvalu, whose island is threatened by rising sea levels. But the deal comes with strings attached – and there will be millions more climate migrants in need of refuge by 2050

Comment

News

Health

Women's pelvises are shrinking – how is that changing childbirth?

Over the past 150 years, the rise in Caesarean sections and changes in diet could have led to smaller pelvises among women – which may make vaginal birth more difficult but could also reduce common conditions associated with childbirth

News

Life

Ancient people took wallabies to Indonesian islands in canoes

News

Life

Orcas scrub each other clean with bits of kelp

News

Life

Enigmatic lizards somehow survived near Chicxulub asteroid impact

News

Environment

Earth is more sensitive to greenhouse gases than we thought

News

Life

Small and speedy dinosaur recognised as a new species

News

Space

Weird line of galaxies may have been created by a cosmic bullet

News

Technology

Leonardo da Vinci's 'helicopter' design could make drones quieter

News

Health

Heart attacks are no longer the leading cause of death in the US

News

Technology

Generation Alpha's coded language makes online bullying hard to detect

News

Environment

Extreme winter weather isn’t down to a wavier jet stream

News

Health

Cancer cells steal mitochondria from nerve cells to fuel their spread

News

Health

Gastric bypass surgery may cut the risk of bowel cancer

News

Humans

Ancient mammoth-tusk boomerang is twice as old as we thought

News

Earth

These rocks are probably the last remains of Earth's early crust

News

Environment

Nearly a third of Tuvaluans have applied for climate migration visa

News

Life

Ash trees are rapidly evolving some resistance to ash dieback disease

News

Mind

Deep sleep seems to lead to more eureka moments

News

Technology

X-ray boosting fabric could make mammograms less painful

News

Environment

The bold plan to save a vital ocean current with giant parachutes

News

Mathematics

Mathematicians create a tetrahedron that always lands on the same side

News

Life

Flamboyance of flamingos reflected on the surface of Turkey's Lake Tuz

News

Aperture

This is a supercell photographed near Arnett, Oklahoma on June 17th. At the moment of the picture, a tornado is ongoing in the center of the image buried in rain, and hail bigger than 55mm (2.17???) is falling and being collected by the hail hunting vehicle. The lightning was prolific because the storm was well over 65,000 feet tall during its peak strength. The lightning was so constant that in 1/8th of a second (the exposure time of this picture), I was able to capture 3 strikes. Most of the lightning was positive, which is stronger than the typical lightning strike which are negative. This can be an indicator of an abundance of hail within the storm, as hail can increase the amount of built up electrical charge within the updraft. Positive strikes typically originate from the top of the storm (anvil) and are characterized by one singular channel without much branching (leftmost strike). Typically striking within the inflow of the storm, they also only strike once instead of strobing with multiple strokes/pulses like negatively charged lightning does. Hope this is enough information about the storm! I can always share more if needed.

Earth

Meet the storm chasers on the hunt for extreme hail

These dramatic images show the researchers out to understand the storms that produce the biggest hail

Regulars

Features

2XTY93C Sparking Tesla Coil

Physics

Solving the 250-year-old puzzle of how static electricity works

You may think you know static electricity, but its true nature has long eluded scientists. We’ve now made a huge leap towards finally figuring it out

Features

Humans

The remarkable tale of how humans nearly didn’t conquer the world

Features

Health

You’ve been sold a giant myth when it comes to improving your health

Features

Culture

MP46X7 Man sitting on the window seal of an open window reading; man's legs dangling out of window

Comment

The best popular science books of 2025 so far

The downsides of diagnosis and an epic trek following a Slovenian wolf are among our culture editor's top popular science books of the year to date, featuring a range of authors from Robert MacFarlane to Suzanne O'Sullivan

Culture

Comment

The best science fiction books of 2025 so far

Culture

More

The dangers of so-called AI experts believing their own hype

Technology

The dangers of so-called AI experts believing their own hype

Beware the tech leaders making grandiose statements about artificial intelligence. They have lost sight of reality, says Philip Ball

Comment

Health

Could hormone implants allow us to boost focus, endurance and libido?

Comment

Health

Can a microbe in soil alter your brain chemistry to improve your mood?

Regulars

BrainTwister #80 Iccanobif numbers

Regulars

Tom Gauld on 'bring your child to work day'

Regulars

Twisteddoodles: If climate change was a genie

Regulars

Regulars

Can AI make novels better? Not if these attempts are anything to go by

Comment

Can AI make novels better? Not if these attempts are anything to go by

Feedback is horrified to see AI's attempts at reworking classic novels, and is concerned that the computers might not quite understand the point of literature

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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