Issue 3436 | Magazine cover date: 29 April 2023

29 April 2023

Issue 3436

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On the cover

Features

What was the universe's first second like? These particles can tell us

What we can do to let the UK’s tamed rivers flow wild and free again

How ultra-processed food harms your health and how to fix the problem

News

Edible computer chips could control digestible drug-delivery robots

We finally know why insects are attracted to lights

Songbirds sing out of tune if they don't practise every day

Elephant seals take power naps in the ocean while slowly sinking

Stress makes us age faster but the effects can be reversed

Was DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin really a victim of scientific theft?

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HT8R68 Childrens party food including sandwiches, cake, jelly and ice cream, biscuits, crisps, sweets and doughnuts on a polka dot background. Pattern

Health

Tackling ultra-processed food must focus on evidence and avoid stigma

Leader

Subscriber-only

Health

How ultra-processed food harms your health and how to fix the problem

Features

Subscriber-only

2MW349R Abbey Mill and Weir, Tewkesbury at sunrise

Environment

What we can do to let the UK’s tamed rivers flow wild and free again

Features

Free

HA6GE7 departmentofenergy 8056998030 The Daya Bay Antineutrino Detector

Space

What was the universe's first second like? These particles can tell us

Features

Subscriber-only

Leaders

Health

Tackling ultra-processed food must focus on evidence and avoid stigma

Highly processed food is an integral part of many food systems. Changing our relationship with it will take time and evidence, and must not point the finger at consumers

Leader

Subscriber-only

News

Technology

Edible computer chips could control digestible drug-delivery robots

Researchers are working on edible computer chips to control robots that can operate inside the human body to precisely deliver drugs before safely being digested

News

Subscriber-only

Space

Amazing images of Mars’s moon Deimos snapped by Emirates Mars Mission

News

Free

Technology

Wood transistor could let us embed electronics in trees

News

Free

Health

Lack of neuron ‘pruning’ may be behind many brain-related conditions

News

Free

Technology

Synthetic spider silk laced with graphene can heal itself when wet

News

Subscriber-only

Technology

Synthetic spider silk laced with graphene can heal itself when wet

News

Subscriber-only

Health

Skateboard helps very premature babies develop their motor skills

News

Subscriber-only

Environment

2022 was Europe’s hottest summer but warmer years are likely to come

News

Free

Environment

Geoengineering the seas could be catastrophic for marine life

News

Subscriber-only

Life

Kelp forests capture nearly 5 million tonnes of CO2 annually

News

Free

Life

We finally know why insects are attracted to lights

News

Subscriber-only

Life

Songbirds sing out of tune if they don't practise every day

News

Subscriber-only

Life

Carnivorous plants use a sneaky trick for luring different bugs to eat

News

Subscriber-only

Space

Distant world breaks record for heaviest element on an exoplanet

News

Subscriber-only

Mind

Updated brain map reveals how we control the movement of our bodies

News

Free

Analysis

Physics

How can we prove the world is really quantum mechanical?

A 2021 paper has got physicists discussing whether our inability to use classical physics to describe reality on a quantum scale is a human failing - and what proof is necessary to show that the world really is quantum mechanical, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Comment

Subscriber-only

How can we prove the world is really quantum mechanical?

Life

Was DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin really a victim of scientific theft?

Analysis

Free

Physics

Why we must inspire people with the magic of condensed matter physics

Comment

Subscriber-only

Aperture

Comment

Famed abstract artists capture nature as you’ve never seen it before

The pioneering work of Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian, who trained in the late 19th century, is finally brought into conversation at the Tate Modern in London

Regulars

Free

Hilma af Klint The Ten Largest, Group IV, No. 9, Old Age, 1907 Courtesy of The Hilma af Klint Foundation

Features

Environment

What we can do to let the UK’s tamed rivers flow wild and free again

In the UK, 97 per cent of rivers have been modified, blocked and otherwise corralled to suit our needs - with enormous damage to wildlife. Here’s how we can reverse the damage we’ve done

Features

Free

Health

How ultra-processed food harms your health and how to fix the problem

Features

Subscriber-only

Space

What was the universe's first second like? These particles can tell us

Features

Subscriber-only

Culture

Comment

Pathogenesis review: How infectious diseases have moulded civilisation

From the development of agriculture to the global rise of religions, Jonathan Kennedy's book describes how infectious diseases have been a decisive force in shaping human history

Culture

Subscriber-only

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1900: Giovanni Grewembroch - XVIII century. Manuscript: Doctor in Venice at the time of the plague. Watercolor. (Photo By DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/De Agostini via Getty Images)

Comment

My Everest review: A horseback journey to the world's highest mountain

Culture

Subscriber-only

Comment

Don't Miss: Life deep underground in Apple TV+'s mysterious Silo

Culture

Subscriber-only

Comment

Buying Time review: Podcast explores an attempt to 'cure' ageing

Culture

Subscriber-only

Space

How to spot Mars travelling through Gemini this week

No matter where you live, Mars is currently taking a little stroll through Gemini, so it is a great time to get to know this constellation with its twin stars, Castor and Pollux, and take a look at the Red Planet too, says Abby Beall

Regulars

Subscriber-only

2GYKRJN The waxing crescent Moon near the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini, with Mars below, as the last of the winter stars set into the western twilight on

Puzzle #219: Can you work out where the second red queen will be?

Regulars

Subscriber-only

Tom Gauld on the outcome of an experiment

Regulars

Free

Twisteddoodles: Researchers have made the world's most powerful laser

Regulars

Free

Regulars

Study finds it is 'barely possible to identify a beautiful scrotum'

Feedback nervously leafs through a new study comparing "men’s and women’s aesthetic assessments" of the scrotum and its "perceived attractiveness"

Regulars

Free

This week's magazine

29 April 2023

On the cover

Health

Tackling ultra-processed food must focus on evidence and avoid stigma

Health

How ultra-processed food harms your health and how to fix the problem

Environment

What we can do to let the UK’s tamed rivers flow wild and free again

Space

What was the universe's first second like? These particles can tell us

Table of contents

Leaders

Health

Tackling ultra-processed food must focus on evidence and avoid stigma

News

Technology

Edible computer chips could control digestible drug-delivery robots

Space

Amazing images of Mars’s moon Deimos snapped by Emirates Mars Mission

Technology

Wood transistor could let us embed electronics in trees

Health

Lack of neuron ‘pruning’ may be behind many brain-related conditions

Technology

Synthetic spider silk laced with graphene can heal itself when wet

Technology

Synthetic spider silk laced with graphene can heal itself when wet

Health

Skateboard helps very premature babies develop their motor skills

Environment

2022 was Europe’s hottest summer but warmer years are likely to come

Environment

Geoengineering the seas could be catastrophic for marine life

Life

Kelp forests capture nearly 5 million tonnes of CO2 annually

Life

We finally know why insects are attracted to lights

Life

Songbirds sing out of tune if they don't practise every day

Life

Carnivorous plants use a sneaky trick for luring different bugs to eat

Space

Distant world breaks record for heaviest element on an exoplanet

Mind

Updated brain map reveals how we control the movement of our bodies

Analysis

Physics

How can we prove the world is really quantum mechanical?

Life

Was DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin really a victim of scientific theft?

Physics

Why we must inspire people with the magic of condensed matter physics

Aperture

Comment

Famed abstract artists capture nature as you’ve never seen it before

Features

Environment

What we can do to let the UK’s tamed rivers flow wild and free again

Health

How ultra-processed food harms your health and how to fix the problem

Space

What was the universe's first second like? These particles can tell us

Culture

Comment

Pathogenesis review: How infectious diseases have moulded civilisation

Comment

My Everest review: A horseback journey to the world's highest mountain

Comment

Don't Miss: Life deep underground in Apple TV+'s mysterious Silo

Comment

Buying Time review: Podcast explores an attempt to 'cure' ageing

More

Space

How to spot Mars travelling through Gemini this week

Puzzle #219: Can you work out where the second red queen will be?

Tom Gauld on the outcome of an experiment

Twisteddoodles: Researchers have made the world's most powerful laser

Regulars

Study finds it is 'barely possible to identify a beautiful scrotum'