Health
The healthcare industry isn’t built for coming off medication
Comment
This week's magazine
29 August 2026
Issue 3610
On the cover
Editor's picks
Physics
Why banishing irrational numbers could trigger a revolution in quantum theory
Features
Health
Doctors are finally learning to manage antidepressant withdrawal
Features
Technology
The engineer racing to run the world’s most dangerous algorithm
Features
Health
From back pain to cancer, how the interstitium could transform medicine
Features
Table of contents
News
Space
Strange gamma-ray signal could be most direct evidence of dark matter yet
Researchers spotted an unusual gamma-ray signal in three galaxy clusters, which may be a telltale sign of dark matter – or some even more exotic phenomenon
News
Health
Two emerging tick viruses that can be deadly are spreading in the US
News
Health
Supercentenarians have hypervigilant immune systems that fight off cancer
News
Environment
World may warm by 25 per cent more than current projections suggest
News
Environment
Greenland meltwater is intensifying European heatwaves
News
Health
Will personalised mRNA vaccines transform cancer treatments?
News
Health
We may now know which neurons dictate when it is time to go to sleep
News
Technology
AI firms are watermarking generated text – here’s why it won’t work
News
Humans
Did humans evolve to be active throughout the day and night?
News
Health
Newly discovered immune hubs in our skull may keep our brain healthy
News
Chemistry
Plastic bottles can be turned into edible, vanilla-flavour cookies
News
Life
Female clones created from the blood of male mice
News
Environment
Planes flying over the Atlantic will be re-routed to avoid contrails
News
Technology
AI could offer a shortcut for designing more efficient airplane wings
News
Physics
Physicists may have solved a 30-year mystery over missing neutrinos
News
Health
Weightlifting makes older women leaner, stronger and more mobile
News
Features
Physics
Why banishing irrational numbers could trigger a revolution in quantum theory
Irrational numbers have underpinned quantum mechanics for a century. Removing them could eliminate its strangest features and trigger the biggest upheaval in physics since quantum theory began
Features
Health
Doctors are finally learning to manage antidepressant withdrawal
Features
Technology
The engineer racing to run the world’s most dangerous algorithm
Features
Health
From back pain to cancer, how the interstitium could transform medicine
Features
Culture
Comment
Want to know everything about time? Read Jim Al-Khalili’s new book
If you want a thorough examination of time, then the excellent – and extremely meaty – book On Time is for you, says Joshua Howgego
Culture
Comment
Can the Greek muses of ancient myth explain modern society?
Culture
Comment
The quest to save the bananas we love so much makes scary reading
Culture
Comment
Our verdict on The Dog Stars: A mixed response to this grim future
Culture
More
Health
How long could we possibly live? A new estimate is mind-boggling
Biogerontologists are exploring the upper limit for human life. A recent study has it verging on two centuries – but columnist Graham Lawton finds reason to be sceptical
Comment
Mind
Suggesting that ADHD is a myth is pseudoscientific and dangerous
Comment
Technology
Feeding our books into generative AI risks creating a cultural void
Comment
Tom Gauld on picking the right staff
Regulars
Twisteddoodles on a brand-new type of robot
Regulars
Regulars
Comment
Can ‘quantum musical agents’ really make a melody better?
Feedback wonders if a bum note is being struck in a new paper exploring "quantum teleportation in multi-agent systems for interactive music”
Feedback
This Week’s Letters
Letters
Why do we feel emotional about fictional characters?
Last Word
Why don’t we sneeze when we are asleep?
Last Word
Are there plants that could survive as a food source on the moon? Part 2
Last Word
This week’s new questions
Last Word
