Magic mushrooms are one of the psychedelics showing real medical potential John Moore/Getty Images A single dose of psilocybin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – produces rapid reductions in symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to the first placebo-controlled trial to test the psychedelic for the mental health condition. The effects also seem…
A pygmy long-fingered possum Carlos Bocos Two marsupial species that scientists thought had gone extinct at least 6000 years ago have been found alive on the island of New Guinea. The ring-tailed glider and pygmy long-fingered possum, previously known to science only from fossils found in Australia, have now been found and photographed in the…
Amyloid plaques in the brain are a defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease, but what if the roots of the condition start elsewhere in the body? Alamy Alzheimer’s disease has long been viewed as something that originates inside the brain, but an in-depth genomic analysis suggests it may initially be triggered by inflammation in distant organs…
But Abu Dhabi forcefully denies this – and has told the BBC it “categorically rejects allegations that it has provided, financed, transported or facilitated any weapons, ammunition, drones, vehicles, guided munitions or other military equipment to the RSF, whether directly or indirectly”.
“After all that abuse, after all that cruelty, after all that evil, it seems unbelievable that I’m asking people, [that] I’m asking my fellow political prisoners, too, to get that out of here, out of our hearts,” he says. “Every trace of hatred, of resentment, of bitterness, of discontent.”
Falling cats seem to twist the front half of their body first Evolve/Photoshot/ZUMAPRESS/Alamy When falling cats turn themselves the right way up before they hit the ground, they have a secret trick: a region of their spine that is exceptional at twisting. “We compared the flexibility of the thoracic spine and lumbar spine in cats,…
How can we spot if someone is lying to us? There are no easy tells Margarita Young/Alamy Poisonous PeopleLeanne ten BrinkeSimon & Schuster It seems only fitting that a book about dark personalities opens with the case study of a psychopath. But the author’s choice isn’t who you might have been expecting. Instead of a…
Josie Ford Feedback is New Scientist’s popular sideways look at the latest science and technology news. You can submit items you believe may amuse readers to Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com A shedload of bears Following the use of golden retrievers as a unit of ice mass, Feedback has found our inbox filling up with more…
Live action video game LANDER 23 Punchdrunk Controls jam, data streams go haywire, smoke pours from every vent. Your Lander 23 spaceship has crashed in hostile territory. You must explore a treacherous world, refuel and return home. Radiation levels are high, time is short and something lurks outside… If this sounds like a review of…
Alistair Berg/Getty Images Let’s start off with a fact: you do not, no matter what you’ve heard, eat a credit card’s worth of microplastics each week. At least, not in the course of a normal human diet. But this popular claim has raised alarm, especially as it has been followed by a flurry of studies…