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This week's magazine

9 August 2025

Issue 3555

Â鶹´«Ã½ issue 3555 cover
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Editor's picks

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Blondet Eliot/ABACA/Shutterstock (15320742p) This photo taken on May 26, 2025, during a ministerial visit to Novo Nordisk factory in Chartres, France, shows medicines (injection solution and injection pen for Ozempic, Wegovy, etc...) on the production line. Illustration - Novo Nordisk Factory - Chartres, France - 26 May 2025

Health

We should consider testing Ozempic on healthy people

Comment
Why constipation isn’t just painful, but can lead to serious disease

Health

Why constipation isn’t just painful, but can lead to serious disease

Features

Humans

Your pet dog’s ancestor was a fierce, wild animal. How was it tamed?

Features
Why mathematicians want to destroy infinity – and may succeed

Mathematics

Why mathematicians want to destroy infinity – and may succeed

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Blondet Eliot/ABACA/Shutterstock (15320742p) This photo taken on May 26, 2025, during a ministerial visit to Novo Nordisk factory in Chartres, France, shows medicines (injection solution and injection pen for Ozempic, Wegovy, etc...) on the production line. Illustration - Novo Nordisk Factory - Chartres, France - 26 May 2025

Health

We should consider testing Ozempic on healthy people

As the list of health benefits of semaglutide drugs grows, perhaps it is time to think about assessing their impact on people without medical conditions

Comment

News

Physics

Could we get quantum spookiness even without entanglement?

Particles of light travelling through a maze of devices seem to have passed a famous test for entanglement – without being entangled at all

News

Space

Cameras that work like our eyes could give boost to astronomers

News

Chemistry

Extra-hard hexagonal diamonds can now be grown in a lab

News

Physics

We may be able to share quantum entanglement nearly infinitely

News

Technology

Solar-powered ambush drones can wait for targets like land mines

News

Health

Steadfast lifestyle changes seem best to improve cognitive decline

News

Health

Ozempic really could turn back the clock on your biological age

News

Earth

Meltwater bursts through Greenland ice in first-of-a-kind eruption

News

Environment

Forests with robust animal populations store four times as much carbon

News

Health

Covid-19 and flu may reawaken dormant cancer cells in the lungs

News

Life

How life thrives in one of the most hostile environments on Earth

News

Humans

Ancient Siberian ice mummy is covered in 'really special' tattoos

News

Humans

Ancient pots found near Pompeii contain 2500-year-old honey

News

Life

Mystery of the potato's origins solved by genetics

News

Life

New-to-science stick insect is the heaviest ever found in Australia

News

Earth

Longest lightning ‘mega-flash’ sets a shocking new record

News

Health

Human milk could help fight infections that endanger pregnancies

News

Life

E. coli genome has been remade with 101,000 changes to its DNA

News

Life

Critics of de-extinction research hit by mystery smear campaign

News

Health

Common artificial sweetener may interfere with cancer treatments

News

Health

Ageing in the brain may be caused by a breakdown in protein production

News

Humans

DNA analysis reveals what really killed Napoleon's army in 1812

News

Earth

Russian volcano erupts for the first time in 600 years

News

Aperture

Mycena sp. Litter life (opposite) Page 85

Life

Enchanting photos of 'bizarre' mushrooms showcase fungi diversity

From squat toadstools to web-like mushrooms, images from Funga Obscura celebrate some of the most striking fungi on our planet

Regulars

Features

Why constipation isn’t just painful, but can lead to serious disease

Health

Why constipation isn’t just painful, but can lead to serious disease

Increasing evidence suggests chronic constipation can be a causal factor in illnesses including cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairment. So what can you do to get moving again?

Features

Humans

Your pet dog’s ancestor was a fierce, wild animal. How was it tamed?

Features

Mathematics

Why mathematicians want to destroy infinity – and may succeed

Features

Culture

The Shrouds press images

Comment

David Cronenberg's new sci-fi film is devastating and mysterious

In The Shrouds, Karsh, Myrna and Maury talk – a lot – about mysterious shrouds, improbable tech and ever-more-complex conspiracy theories. Nothing happens, just grief and, er, death, finds Simon Ings

Culture

Society

Fascinating and enraging book exposes the biases that shape our lives

Culture

Mind

Biodiversity needs neurodiversity, says insightful new book

Culture

Life

Â鶹´«Ã½ recommends Kew Gardens' new Of the Oak exhibition

Culture

More

2H2KWEA Big Bang to Present. Stages in the history of the Universe after the Big Bang. At 300, 000 years, matter and radiation decouple, and the Universe becomes transparent for the first time. The first galaxies form at around 300 million years after the Big Bang, but the exact time period is uncertain. At an age of 9 billion years the Solar System formed. Finally, 13.7 billion years after the Big Bang we arrive at the present day. The Universe is still expanding and evolving.

Physics

What happens to light's energy when it redshifts? It's complicated

When it comes to cosmology, answering one question only leads to more. Just take light. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein dives into a reader's question

Comment

Life

Do the bumps on a bell pepper reveal how sweet it will be? Er, no

Regulars

Health

Could this be the way to get the world exercising?

Comment

Tom Gauld on mice and men

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on a scientific romance

Regulars

Regulars

We strongly encourage you to watch the dirtiest videos on YouTube

Comment

We strongly encourage you to watch the dirtiest videos on YouTube

Feedback falls down a YouTube rabbit hole to discover the world of rug-cleaning videos. Some of these rugs even have maggots. Has carpet cleaning gone too far?

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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