Is there an evolutionary reason for same-sex sexual behaviour?
Sexual behaviour among same-sex pairs is common in apes and monkeys, and a wide-ranging analysis suggests it does boost survival
We’re about to simulate a human brain on a supercomputer
The world’s most powerful supercomputers can now run simulations of billions of neurons, and researchers hope such models will offer unprecedented insights into how our brains work
Why it’s easy to be misunderstood when talking about probability
Mathematicians rely on numbers, but finding words to explain different levels of certainty has stymied everyone from the ancient Greeks to the most famous modern philosophers. Maths columnist Jacob Aron tells the story of how a CIA analyst finally cracked it
Sinking trees in Arctic Ocean could remove 1 billion tonnes of CO2
Cutting down boreal forest and sinking the felled trees in the depths of the Arctic Ocean could remove up to 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year – but it could come at a cost to the Arctic ecosystem
NASA is performing an unprecedented medical evacuation from the ISS
One of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station is undergoing a “medical situation”, forcing NASA to bring the crew home early for the first time ever
Microbiome study hints that fibre could be linked to better sleep
Evidence is mounting that specific gut bacteria are linked to sleep conditions, which may open the doors to dietary recommendations aiming to boost the quality of our slumbers
Why does the United States want to buy Greenland?
The ice-covered island may be strategically important, but it's unclear that it could be a commercially viable source of minerals and oil in the near future
Quantum neural network may be able to cheat the uncertainty principle
Calculations show that injecting randomness into a quantum neural network could help it determine properties of quantum objects that are otherwise fundamentally hard to access
Man whose gut made its own alcohol gets relief from faecal transplant
A man with auto-brewery syndrome, a rare condition in which gut microbes produce intoxicating levels of alcohol, has been successfully treated with faeces from a super donor
‘Knitted’ satellite launching to monitor Earth’s surface with radar
A standard industrial knitting machine has been modified to produce fabrics from tungsten wire coated in gold, which are used to form the dish on the CarbSAR satellite