We’ll learn about Ozempic’s potential for Alzheimer’s disease in 2025
Two later-stage trials investigating semaglutide, the drug in Ozempic, for treating Alzheimer's disease are due to complete in 2025, with potentially big results
The most powerful images of the natural world from 2024
A large number of damaging and deadly hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, floods and droughts this year were photographed from land, air and space
Monster wildfires are sending more smoke into the stratosphere
Smoke lofted into the upper atmosphere on towering pyrocumulonimbus clouds can spread around the globe and affect the climate
Whales may hone their singing skills by practising out of season
The songs of male humpback whales seem to become more complex in the months before they look for a mate, suggesting a rehearsal period may be important for good performance
Mathematicians spent 2024 unravelling proof almost no one understands
The geometric Langlands conjecture poses deep questions for mathematicians, and a 1000-page proof published this year has left them both celebrating and puzzled
Forcing people to change their passwords is officially a bad idea
A US standards agency has issued new guidance saying organisations shouldn’t require users to change their passwords periodically – advice that is backed up by decades of research
Bacteria can work as a team to spot prime numbers and vowels
Bacteria that have been genetically engineered to work like computers can solve a range of problems, using a very simple type of artificial intelligence
Jet contrails may cool the planet by day and warm it by night
An AI-assisted analysis of satellite images suggests the vapour trails produced by aircraft have a net cooling effect in the daytime because they reflect sunlight back into space
What voice assistants like Alexa know about you – and how they use it
Voice assistants can build profiles of their users’ habits and preferences, but the consistency and accuracy of these profiles vary
Search for alien transmissions in promising star system draws a blank
Astronomers listened for radio signals emanating from planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, but found no evidence of any interplanetary communications