Google DeepMind claims its AlphaChip AI method can deliver “superhuman” chip designs that are already used in its data centres – but independent experts say public proof is lacking

Andrew McConnell's otherworldly photograph captures a Russian cosmonaut in front of the just-landed Soyuz MS spacecraft in Kazakhstan's remote grasslands

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

In What's Next? Bill Gates digs into AI, climate, inequality, malaria and more. But the man looms too large for alternative solutions to emerge, says Bethan Ackerley

Smartphones have indeed created an "anxious generation", but it isn't young people, it is their parents, argues neuroscientist Dean Burnett

If artificial intelligence chatbots are fine-tuned to improve their responses using human feedback, they can become more likely to give deceptive answers that seem right but aren’t

Temozolomide resistance in MGMT-methylated glioblastoma is mediated by a CHK1/DDX46 axis that can be blocked by the addition of a CHK1 inhibitor.

A microbiome-directed food targeting specific gut bacterial taxa promotes growth in Bangladeshi children recovering from severe acute malnutrition.

LRRK2 kinase activity drives reactive oxygen species production in Parkinson’s disease through regulation of NADPH oxidase 2.

A tumor-specific peptide translated from a MYC-associated uORF binds to tropomyosin receptor kinase B and promotes glioblastoma growth.

Glucocorticoid receptor activation in renal tubular epithelial cells amplifies DNA damage, impairs mitochondrial bioenergetics, and worsens injury.

Cracks running through samples of asteroid Ryugu were probably formed by the repeated thawing and freezing of water inside it, which could have helped asteroids like this carry the building blocks of life to early Earth

Astronomers have detected an exoplanet around Barnard’s star, one of the sun’s closest neighbours, but it is too hot for liquid water or life

Google, Microsoft and others have taken big steps towards error-free devices, hinting that quantum computers that solve real problems aren’t far away

How did the supermassive black holes we’re now seeing in the early universe get so big so fast? Astrophysicist Sophie Koudmani is using sophisticated galaxy simulations to figure it out

A US standards agency has issued new guidance saying organisations shouldn’t require users to change their passwords periodically – advice that is backed up by decades of research

Voice assistants can build profiles of their users’ habits and preferences, but the consistency and accuracy of these profiles vary

Astronomers listened for radio signals emanating from planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, but found no evidence of any interplanetary communications

It has become trivially easy to use artificial intelligence to edit images or generate video to remove unwanted objects or beautify scenes, but doing so leads to people misremembering what they have seen

A distant planet should have been consumed when its star expanded to become a red giant, perhaps offering insights into planetary migration