In her new book Alive, Melanie Challenger asks a big question: what is "life"? Her answer is that life is matter that has become imbued with purpose. I have thoughts about that. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2582598-what-is-life-a-provocative-new-book-sets-out-to-redefine-it/

The cover story in this month's @sciencenews.bsky.social is my feature about Fatimah Jackson, who is figuring out what to do with human remains that institutions have acquired without consent. https://www.sciencenews.org/sn-magazine/august-2026

Want to understand human evolution but not sure where to start? Start here, with this timeline of the entire story, from the first primates to the first cities. For @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/2583039-timeline-of-human-evolution/

Have you ever looked at a balloon animal and wondered how to describe it geometrically? Well, somebody did, and they wrote a whole paper about it - Feedback, @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/2582605-the-mathematics-of-balloon-animals/

Artificially-elongated fingernails were a marker of social status and conspicuous leisure, but no longer, say social scientists - Feedback, @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/2581378-a-handy-guide-to-the-science-of-super-long-fingernails/

One patient in 20 is exposed to preventable harm in healthcare systems. Reducing these medical errors requires thinking carefully about systems and processes - @doctors-net-uk.bsky.social https://loom.ly/-1YmWig

Some characters in movies often die: wise mentors, teen girls having sex in horror movies, and, for some reason, geologists - Feedback in @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/2580175-why-do-fictional-geologists-keep-getting-killed-off-in-movies/

There's a magazine called the Journal of Imaginary Research that publishes entirely made-up research, and their latest issue includes an evolutionary puzzle - Feedback, @newscientist.com https://loom.ly/ENG1Cq0

Fatimah Jackson is a biological anthropologist who has studied human diversity. Her latest project: working out what to do with the human remains collected by universities etc without consent. I profiled her for @sciencenews.bsky.social. https://loom.ly/hEapET8

Achievement unlocked: after years of loyal listening I finally had an email read out on @kermodeandmayo.bsky.social (from about 7:20) Apple: https://loom.ly/now2wQE Spotify: https://loom.ly/EfzmI1c YouTube: https://loom.ly/1twde8g

One of the biggest trends in human evolution is that we became a fair bit taller and a lot heavier. (Our Human Story, @newscientist.com) https://www.newscientist.com/article/2533221-how-humans-evolved-to-be-twice-as-big-as-our-ancestors/

How come lugworm poop looks like it has fallen to the ground, when they defecate upwards? Feedback in @newscientist.com asks the big questions https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg27136032-200-a-surprisingly-detailed-look-at-the-physics-of-a-lugworms-poop/

We often assume that natural selection favoured intelligence and big brains, but this might not be true at all - @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/2532890-human-brains-may-have-got-bigger-for-no-particular-reason/

In further evidence that capitalism is entering a terminal phase, there is now a company selling probiotic underwear, reports Feedback in @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg27136022-300-do-you-want-your-underwear-with-added-probiotics/

Doctors often give patients tests or medicines, not because they'll help, but to prevent a complaint. How can we reduce this "defensive medicine", without inadvertently harming patients? @doctors-net-uk.bsky.social https://loom.ly/CHbTX1M

Are some people more prone than others to cry when chopping onions? And what does that have to do with a cat? All this and more in Feedback in @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg27036012-700-hold-the-onions-and-see-if-they-make-you-cry/

A pair of wooden posts, erected 5000 years ago, pointed to sunrise on the summer solstice. They may have been a precursor to Stonehenge - @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/2530818-ancient-monument-may-have-been-an-early-stonehenge-prototype/

Feedback in @newscientist.com tackles a pressing question: Reptiles with a larger body mass tend to have longer Wikipedia entries, but does that apply to the noted fictional reptile Godzilla? https://loom.ly/K62jWok

This always gives me a little happy: my feature on the origins of life is this week's cover story in @newscientist.com In shops tomorrow morning! https://www.newscientist.com/issue/3600/

In more shock "autistic people are diverse" news, it seems people with autism can have unusually strong OR unusually weak connections between brain regions, with different mechanisms responsible. @newscientist.com https://loom.ly/T42CBPA

New feature for @newscientist.com: When it comes to explaining how life began, sometimes the old ideas are best. Specifically, an idea put forward about a century ago and neglected for decades. https://loom.ly/3-IbpNs

Many people believe themselves to be funny. But who is most prone to this delusion, wonders Feedback in @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg27035991-800-think-you-have-a-good-sense-of-humour-so-do-most-people/

I know a reasonable amount about the evolution of birds, but palaeontologist @stevebrusatte.bsky.social's new book about them still managed to surprise me. Review in @newscientist.com https://loom.ly/mvHFkcs

You can now watch my full interview with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social for @newscientist.com, about the animal origins of the human body. NS: https://loom.ly/6vdtOMU YouTube: https://loom.ly/k3LiB_4

"Humans: The evolution of a species" is out today in the US and Canada! It's a lavishly illustrated account of our origins, written by a team of experts and also some hack called Michael Marshall. https://dk.com/products/9780241682746-humans

We know that humans migrated out of Africa, but we sometimes get into a muddle about how and when and why - @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529312-what-really-happened-when-ancient-humans-migrated-out-of-africa/

I know nothing about this book or its author, beyond his Wikipedia page, but my spider sense, trained by years of @ifbookspod.bsky.social, tingled as soon as I saw this promo image. I just have this niggling suspicion that a lot of the book’s content might in fact be quite stupid.

A new online encyclopedia is entirely generated by AI and consists of nothing but hallucinations, finds Feedback in @newscientist.com https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg27035981-100-an-encyclopedia-formed-from-ai-hallucinations-what-could-go-wrong/

I spent a morning with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social talking about humans - in particular, the ways in which we both are and aren't exceptional. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg27035982-200-alice-roberts-we-are-fundamentally-at-the-end-of-the-day-animals/

New podcast: I'm on the latest episode of Ollie Guillou's What We Did Before, talking about what it was like for our ancestors to live alongside so many other kinds of humans https://podfollow.com/what-we-did-before/episode/d131d4732309f66944afe2870e63c14b0e3abe0e/view