Young, hotheaded stars could host habitable worlds
"Infant Earths" could expand the search for alien life – but there's a warning note for supposedly habitable planets orbiting mature stars
Cosmic rays drive the galactic pottery wheel
The flat disc shape of the Milky Way galaxy had been a mystery. Now simulations suggest it could be thanks to winds driven by charged particles
The sun and Jupiter could reveal space-time ripples
The wobbles caused by gigantic gravitational waves have never been measured directly, but we could use the sun and Jupiter as a huge wave detector
Philippines learned from Haiyan to cut typhoon deaths
Lessons from typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands of people last year, helped the government keep down the death toll from typhoon Hagupit
Back from the brink: See European beavers at work
The largest rodent in Europe, the beaver is re-establishing itself on the continent after successful reintroductions
Personality affects maths-enhancing brain-zap method
Only people who find maths stressful benefit from a brain-stimulation technique – proving for the first time that the effects of zapping depend on personality
What Pacific islanders have taught me about friendship
Human culture is about survival of the friendliest, says anthropologist John Edward Terrell – and Westerners could learn from more traditional societies
The wonders of orchids: Beautiful, smelly and sexy
Darwin would have been amazed by the leaps in our knowledge about his favourite flowers, cleverly described in Darwin's Orchids: Then & now
Moving objects make hummingbirds wobble mid-flight
Immersing hummingbirds in virtual reality is revealing that they are surprisingly sensitive to a moving view
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