Author: New Scientist - News

A new site invites people to vote on which note should come next in a melody. Can a mob of strangers on the internet really create an enjoyable tune?

The famous polar bear that drowned in 2011 at Berlin Zoo seems to have suffered from a brain condition previously only known in humans

Four species of the iconic birds on the Galapagos Islands rub themselves with leaves that deter mosquitoes and parasitic flies

Firstborn women are more likely to be overweight then their secondborn sisters. A result of their parents doting on them, or their mother's inexperienced womb?

Charging drivers to enter parts of London did not improve air quality or schoolchildren's respiratory health in the first three years of the scheme

The physics of musical wine glasses gets an update, as a wine glass inside water turns out to be just as tuneful as the reverse

Therapies based on hormones that make us more trusting enhance our natural placebo effect – a finding that could alter the way clinical trials are conducted

The world only quantum computer maker says its upgraded chip is 15 times faster than ordinary computers, but experts doubt the comparison is a fair test

We now know how to turn fat cells into ones that burn calories as heat rather than store them – raising the prospect of a gene therapy for obesity

Charging drivers to enter parts of London did not improve air quality or schoolchildren's respiratory health in the first three years of the scheme