Beetles so bright, you gotta wear shades
These beetles have scales that make them whiter than paper. No human technology can match their brilliance using such thin material
Esports: Video games jump from couch to stadium
Professional video gaming has prizes, fans and superstars just like football or tennis – and it's only getting bigger
Earth's early life endured long asteroid bombardment
Massive asteroids may have pounded Earth for a billion years longer than we thought – with early life forms suffering periodic melting of the surface
Feedback: Plumbing to be proud of
Papering over some differences, Platonists deny patentability, paradoxical numbers' plethora and more
Esports: Speedrunning turns any game into a sprint
Speedrunning – finishing a game in double-quick time – is one way to get into competing for prizes, and less famous games have their own contests, too
Space is the place to solve the riddle of life, maybe
Understanding how life got started here on planet Earth may mean searching for its counterparts "out there"
Esports: Live from the world's biggest esports event
Mark Harris sees adoring crowds, fire jets and glitter bombs usher in the finalists at the world's most prestigious esports tournament
Toilet to tap: Drinking water at the press of a flush
Water grids are ruinously expensive to build and maintain. Treating wastewater in the home is a practical alternative – if we can get over the yuck factor
Stardust team reveals first specks of interstellar dust
The NASA spacecraft caught seven grains of dust that probably originated beyond our solar system – and now scientists have analysed them on Earth
Watch a swarm of 1000 mini-robots assemble into shapes
The world's largest robotic swarm can autonomously form complex 2D shapes like stars or letters of the alphabet
Will death of Robin Williams herald spike in suicides?
Copycat deaths are likely in the wake of the suicide of Robin Williams. More restrained reporting could help, says Steven Stack
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