Spacesuit future looks sleek, speedy and commercial
An astronaut nearly drowned last year when his suit sprung a leak. But sleek skinsuits and high-tech "suitports" are about to transform spacewear
Zoologger: Superfemale mice have secret male DNA
A female mammal that carries a "male" chromosome should struggle to reproduce, but if it is an African pygmy mouse, this offers an unexpected advantage
Europe's law on e-cigarettes sets global benchmark
Tough measures branded "unscientific" make it into law, but ensure e-cigarettes remain a consumer product rather than a medicine
Stunning six-sided snowflakes bloom in slow motion
Watch in mesmerising detail as snowflakes crystallise into unique beauties, their rapid growth caught by a high-speed camera
Tell us what made you happy, win 14 Folio Society books
You could win a bookshelf full of beautifully bound, iconic works of science and natural history simply by telling us what purchase made you happiest
Racial categories aren't hardwired in our minds
Psychologists have shown that people subconsciously identify their peers more strongly by how they work with others than by the colour of their skin
Sharp thinking: How shaping tools built our brains
How did we become the smartest creatures on Earth? The story of our ancestors' mental leaps can be found in stones – a modern-day flint-knapper is our guide
How can you ensure that your life is worth living?
Dramatic advances in communication with people in a minimally conscious state have provoked questions central to our ideas about what makes life worth living
Origin of organs: Thank viruses for your skin and bone
Organs like muscle and skin require genes that slipped into our primordial ancestors' genomes when viruses infected them
Brain zap rouses people from years of vegetative state
People in a vegetative state showed signs of awareness after electric brain stimulation – and minimally conscious people were able to communicate again
Whale graveyard reveals most ancient mass strandings
The oldest and greatest graveyard of extinct marine mammals now sits under a highway in South America – but researchers got access first
Hundreds of mini solar systems found in the Milky Way
More than 700 possible planets found by a NASA telescope have been verified as real, and most live in scaled-down versions of our inner solar system
Quantum electric dewdrops produced for first time
A quantum droplet of an "electric liquid" – a new kind of quasi-particle – can be squeezed from a semiconductor by shooting it with lasers
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