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Table of contents

Leaders

Environment

Covid-19 slowed climate action but now we know we can make big changes

The covid-19 pandemic has shown us that rapid change to both systems and behaviours are possible – now we must harness what we have learned as we rebuild our economies

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Technology

Smartwatches could predict your marathon time with increased accuracy

Smartwatches are a popular training tool among runners Planning to do a marathon? A new way of analysing data from a smartwatch could help forecast how you will perform. “Marathon prediction is very difficult,” says Thorsten Emig at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), but he and his colleagues have developed a more …

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Humans

City dwellers are just as helpful as people in towns and villages

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Life

Bird-like dinosaurs that lost a finger show evolution in action

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Life

Vine grows its own greenhouses to help fruit develop in autumn

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Health

Stimulating the ears and tongue may reduce severity of tinnitus

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Humans

3000-year-old leather balls found in graves may be for ancient sport

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Space

Asteroid Bennu was once part of a space rock with flowing water

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Life

Naked mole rats invade neighbouring colonies and kidnap their babies

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Life

Rat that uses whiskers to hunt underwater prey is really four species

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Environment

Building digital twins of Earth could help Europe cut carbon emissions

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Physics

Physicists have discovered the ultimate speed limit of sound

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Technology

AI can alter the speed of just one object or person in a video

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Technology

Robot swarms guided by human artists could paint colourful pictures

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Humans

Stone Age people in Ireland had dark skin and were lactose-intolerant

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Environment

Implanting beef cattle embryos in dairy cows makes them more lucrative

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Health

Covid-19 crisis quashed colds and flus but they may be worse next year

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Health

Where did coronavirus come from? And other covid-19 questions answered

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Analysis

Environment

We must pay attention to subtle yet deadly aspects of climate change

Catastrophic events hog the climate limelight but there are more understated effects that demand attention too, says Hannah Cloke

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Environment

Rethinking your pension may just be the greenest thing you can do

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Aperture

Environment

Tragic image of an orphan macaque wins wildlife photography award

This poignant image of an orphaned baby macaque awaiting its fate at a market in Bali won an award in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

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Features

Environment

How the coronavirus has impacted climate change – for good and bad

Global warming has become a forgotten crisis during the coronavirus pandemic. But a year that has set worrying climate records also shows how we can remake the world for the better

Features

Physics

We’ve built a fourth dimension of space and we’re about to look inside

Features

Humans

'Ums' and 'ers' are a hidden code that helped complex language evolve

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Culture

Technology

The Social Dilemma review: How big tech companies use us for profit

“If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product,” goes a saying that has been around in some form or another since the 1970s. When applied to internet companies, the adage says that even though some services appear free, they make money by selling their users’ data. It is an idea discussed …

Culture

Technology

How a rural Mexican village built its own phone network

Culture

Don’t Miss: The Wonder Book of Geometry is full of pretty surprises

Culture

Humans

The Book of Malachi is darkly unmissable science fiction

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More

Space

Mars is unusually close this month – here's how to spot it in the sky

Earth and Mars are closer this month than they have been since 2003. To spot the Red Planet, look for a bright red object towards the east after sunset or west before sunrise, says Abigail Beall

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Puzzle #81: What's the longest it could take Tom to cross the bridge?

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Tom Gauld's grandfather paradox and mother reaction

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Twisteddoodles on the way scientists see a half-filled glass

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A steamy romance novel about the coronavirus is going viral

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Purely for research "Dr Alexa Ashingtonford stared at the test tube between her fingers, her perfectly pink manicured nails clashing with the pale, bubbling liquid inside. She recognised the power she had in her grip, the virus which had claimed …

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Letters

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The last word