Chilled spiky lizard helps Peruvian park nab a record
This tough little creature has helped Peru's Manú National Park claim the title of having the world's most diverse collection of reptiles and amphibians
Interplanetary comms get easier with a nanotech boost
Laser signals from deep space are hard to read – but a super-cool nanoscale light detector might make it easier
Zoologger: Sabre-toothed frog is an evolutionary loner
With a pair of vicious-looking fangs, Odontobatrachus natator is bad news for prey animals – including other frogs
The beauty and intellectual wealth of visualised data
Learning to ask the right questions about how to communicate science is the take-home message from the Beautiful Science exhibition at the British Library
Travelling truck surgeons save lives in the Andes
Aspiring surgeon David Cohen scrubs up with a team aboard a pioneering mobile operating theatre in a remote part of Ecuador
Feedback: Mars attacks sore throats
Mars attacks sore throats, District Court for Mars invoked, signs and portents and more
Electrical healing from Frankenstein to birth pangs
We have long intuited that electricity can heal the body, and this has led to shocking quackery. But now bioelectric medicine is being reanimated
Big bang birthday: Six mysteries of a cosmic bombshell
Fifty years since the first confirmed signal of the big bang and physicists are still wrestling with the questions it raises about the nature of the universe
New cache of fresh neurons found in human brains
Brain-cell regeneration has been found in a new location in our brains – the new cells may one day be used to treat brain diseases or help stroke recovery
Warmer world may wreak havoc with the Atlantic
Rising temperatures could destabilise Atlantic currents, potentially triggering intense African droughts and faster sea level rise around Europe
ButtonMasher: 80,000 spar to control same Pokémon game
Right now, tens of thousands of gamers are using video-streaming site Twitch to try and play a single version of classic retro game Pokémon. But why?
Testicular time bomb: Older dads' mutant sperm
Every man's sperm is fighting an evolutionary civil war – and over the years, it ups the risk of fathering a child with a genetic disorder
Dog brains respond to calls just like human brains
The brains of humans and dogs light up in the same place in response to vocal sounds, suggesting these processing areas are inherited from a common ancestor
Win Beautiful Science swag from the British Library
Celebrate the mind-bending beauty of visual science and win a bundle of prizes including tickets to see author David McCandless at the British Library
Healing spark: Hack body electricity to replace drugs
We're learning to speak the electrical language of the body – and using it to develop treatments for diseases from arthritis to diabetes
Cannabis can kill without the influence of other drugs
Post-mortems reveal that, in rare cases, marijuana can cause heart problems that prove fatal
Cockpit for apps: Minority Report meets Google Glass
Once everyone's wearing Google Glass, we'll need a way to pilot our way through our virtual worlds. Cue your best Tom Cruise impression
Health trauma of floods may last after waters subside
People hit by flooding could suffer lingering health problems. Tracking those affected by the current deluge in the UK could clarify the long-term impact
Darkness at the end of Brazil's great water tunnel
Enter the surreal world of Cuncas II, part of a 477-kilometre network of tunnels and canals being built to deliver water to parched north-eastern Brazil
Robots with human-like brains to take on Mars unaided
Processors used in gaming and supercomputers could give robots much more human-like minds, enabling them to navigate the skies and explore Mars autonomously
Spinning wind turbines spark clockwork lightning
The rotating blades of wind turbines trigger regular lightning bolts that can blast 2 kilometres up into the atmosphere
Baby universe rumbled with thunder of Higgs bubbles
Sonic booms made as the Higgs boson boiled into being could point to new physics if gravitational wave detectors can find the ripples they left behind
Britons need to accept their new climate
The increasing likelihood of extreme weather events poses big challenges for the UK. Fortunately, there are some unexpected precedents
Honeybee trade is hotbed for carrying disease into wild
Lethal viruses which could play havoc with the wild insects that pollinate crops are being spread by honeybees bred for trade
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