1978 in pictures: Why it was the best year so far
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John's high-school romance, the first test-tube baby and Pluto's moon are only some of the events that made 1978 a year to remember
Biggest building in the world rivals Monaco in size
New Century Global Centre in Chengdu, China, is big enough to eat 20 Sydney Opera Houses with room for dessert
Astrophile: Searing hot exoplanet is an unearthly blue
"Planet HD 189733b is blue, and there's nothing I can do" – not quite the David Bowie lyric, but it sums up the first exoplanet to have its colour studied
Zoologger: Traitorous fish throw friends to the wolves
Confronted with a predator, a group of twospot astyanax fish will attack one of their number to leave it vulnerable
Physics goes social: How behaviour obeys quantum logic
Applying the rules of quantum mechanics to psychology and economics can help us understand the brain and how people make decisions, two physicists argue
For ultra-precise measures, go for nature's constants
The decades-long struggle to redefine seven basic units of measurement may look pointless but is vital for scientific progress
What if your gluten intolerance is all in your head?
For many sufferers, gluten intolerance may originate in the mind, not the body. But that's nothing to be ashamed of, says philosopher Alan Levinovitz
Sensitive piano keys let pianists create new sounds
A new piano keyboard uses sensors similar to those in smartphone touchscreens to let pianists create vibrato and other effects with their fingers
The wonder year: Why 1978 was the best year ever
Grease was the word. It was fun to stay at the YMCA. Global prosperity and well-being peaked in 1978 – and has been going downhill since
Eating insects: Disgust is just the first hurdle
The UN says insects are the food of the future, but the West isn't ready to make them a staple – and squeamishness is the least of the problems
Solar system has a tail shaped like a four-leaf clover
The first images of our star's strange tail come from a NASA probe studying the bubble of plasma created as the sun ploughs through interstellar gas
Musical argon is most accurate thermometer ever
A noisy ball of argon gas takes us maddeningly close to redefining the unit of absolute temperature, the kelvin, in terms of a fundamental constant
Bitcoin sells out as big business moves in
The virtual currency has reached a critical new stage in its evolution – and is about to become almost respectable
Why storm winds turned wind turbine into a fireball
A report into why a British wind turbine exploded in 2011 has finally been released – new safety measures should mean such an event never happens again
Cars that look around to work out where they are
A car can locate itself after a short drive using nothing more than crowdsourced maps and cameras
Why cancer protects from Alzheimer's and vice versa
They are the most feared diseases of our time, but if you get one you are unlikely to get the other – and we are starting to figure out why
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