Science & technology
Animal experimentation
Only 5% of therapies tested on animals are approved for human use
More rigorous experiments could improve those odds
Red moon risen
China has become a scientific superpower
From plant biology to superconductor physics the country is at the cutting edge
Trunk calls
Like people, elephants call each other by name
And anthropoexceptionalism takes another tumble
Fourth time lucky
Elon Musk’s Starship makes a test flight without exploding
Crucially, the upper stage of the giant rocket survived atmospheric re-entry
On thin ice
Zany ideas to slow polar melting are gathering momentum
Giant curtains to keep warm water away from glaciers strike some as too risky
Two legs good
The quest to build robots that look and behave like humans
The engineering challenges involved are fiendish, but worth tackling
Drone warfare
Many Ukrainian drones have been disabled by Russian jamming
Their latest models navigate by sight alone
Of mice and menses
Progress on the science of menstruation—at last
Newly developed research models show promise
Flying bugs
Hordes of cicadas are emerging simultaneously in America
The ancestors of these two neighbouring broods last met in 1803
Avian flu
A second human case of bird flu in America is raising alarm
How close is the H5N1 outbreak to becoming the next pandemic?