Know thy enemy: the million space rocks we must find
It's time to ramp up efforts to find the many smaller near-Earth objects that could unleash destruction on our planet, says astronomer Martin Rees
AI knows a great sporting moment when it sees one
Computers have already tried their hand at sports commentary – now they're picking highlight clips by scanning videos for telltale signs of excitement
Will remote-controlled robots clean you out of a job?
"Digital immigrants" in other countries could soon guide robots around your house. Some find that creepy – and that could be just the start of the trouble
Meet the most complete stegosaurus ever found
A stunning stegosaurus the size of an SUV could soon steal the limelight from the famous diplodocus at the entrance of London's Natural History Museum
Locked-on lasers burn through leaves on train lines
If they won't budge, zap 'em! Train-mounted lasers could cut through the annual annoyance of leaves on the line – the trick is in the focusing
Root intelligence: Plants can think, feel and learn
With an underground "brain network" and the ability to react and remember, plants have their own kind of intelligence – and may even cry out in pain
Google and NASA ride D-Wave to a quantum future
A New Scientist investigation reveals Google's grand plans for its quantum computer, as well as the first hints about what's really going on under its hood
Cleaning bot operators get censored view of your home
Will blurring the video feed recorded by a cleaning robot be enough for us to let strangers on the internet operate them remotely in our homes?
Alien life arrested by climate catch-22
Other Earth-like planets may be caught in a dilemma – they need stable, warm climates to support complex life, but a lack of life may preclude this
Spotted: First quadruple star image produced by gravity
A newly discovered supernova and its four gravitationally lensed images may give researchers a way to pin down the universe's expansion rate
Shell 'art' made 300,000 years before humans evolved
A shell etched by Homo erectus is by far the oldest engraving ever found, challenging what we know about the origin of art and complex human thought
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