New Scientist

Russian troops destroyed and stole equipment used to monitor radiation levels at Chernobyl, requiring the creation of a new sensor network that could involve drones and robots to avoid landmines in the area

Ideas from beyond the standard model of particle physics, including technicolor and glueball Higgs particles, could explain the recent shock finding that the W boson is heavier than we thought

A study of nearly 9000 children and their diets found that about 6 per cent of vegetarians were classed as underweight, compared with around 3 per cent of the meat eaters

Satellite used to identify California farm as source of methane plumes, marking a new level of precision for independent monitoring of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions

Two mannequins designed to represent female bodies will measure radiation exposure on NASA's Artemis I mission later this year, in preparation for putting the first woman on the moon

Current legislation prevents local law enforcement in the US from shooting down or interfering with criminal drones

A regular round-up of the latest coronavirus news, plus insight, features and interviews from New Scientist about the covid-19 pandemic

An 18.6-year lunar cycle is believed to change how the tides affect the mixing of water in the oceans, affecting the rate at which they absorb heat

Tiny plastic particles from clothing and car tyres stick to spiders’ webs in cities, which could prove useful to researchers monitoring this form of pollution

When meteorites land on Earth, microbes soon begin colonising them. If Mars once had life, microbes might have colonised meteorites there too

The vocal gymnastics of harbour seals, including the ability to significantly raise or lower their pitch, seem not to be down to anatomy but learning from one another

A computer model based on past mass extinctions predicts the percentages of marine organisms that may be lost in best and worst-case scenarios

After examining data from more than 18,000 dogs, researchers have reached a clear conclusion: breed doesn’t explain why dogs behave the way they do

A technique that uses quantum computers to verify a device's location can only be hacked with a quantum machine thousands of times larger than those currently in existence

An ultra-long neck would seem to put aquatic plesiosaurs at a disadvantage, but it turns out their big bodies helped avoid drag while swimming

A glow of gamma rays from within our galaxy has long puzzled astronomers, but now it seems they could be produced by a specific type of millisecond pulsar

Findings from people running in the lab and in the real world show that men and women tend to run at a speed that minimises energetic costs, though men run faster

Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer that can go into remission on its own. Now, researchers have identified a possible reason why and used the underlying mechanism to treat tumours in mice

Life expectancy tables for 18 breeds show that Jack Russells are the top dogs for longevity, while French bulldogs come in last

It is still unclear what is behind a worrying surge in cases of liver disease among young children in several countries, but a lack of social mixing during lockdowns could be a factor