If you've ever met a precocious child, they never stop asking "why?" Why is the sky blue? Air scatters short-wavelength photons. Why? Electromagnetism. Why? The laws of physics. But why? This week's cover is on how the laws of physics emerged from chaos 🔽 www.newscientist.com/article/2524...

This 2013 book by an Indigenous botanist is a quietly urgent act of healing that forces Western science to look at the world in a different way

By tracing the origins of an unusual, short-lived particle, researchers have gathered some of the strongest evidence yet that mass can emerge from fluctuations in the vacuum

For decades, scientists have tried and failed to explain how the force that binds the heart of atoms together really works. But new mathematical tools are finally prising the problem open. www.newscientist.com/article/2520...

This week's cover is a lovely piece by Michael Brooks about one of the most beautiful, and mysterious, things in physics: the origin of mass Specifically, why do things turn up heavy if our theory predicts that they should be massless? Loved editing this one ⬇️ www.newscientist.com/article/2520...

Had a blast editing this feature, written by Chen Ly The muon collider was considered largely unfeasible as a particle collider concept, but it's back on the menu for the world's post-LHC discovery machine! Its superfans tell us why they're backing it 🔽 www.newscientist.com/article/2519...

The discovery of bright yet stable pigments is vanishingly rare, making them hugely valuable. Now chemist Mas Subramanian is unpicking the atomic code of colour and homing in on our most-wanted hue

I loved editing this one – we tackle one of physics’ most daring questions: what if time itself is an illusion? New tools may finally let us test whether time is emergent and, not something fundamental. And it all starts from rethinking clocks as time engines 🤯 www.newscientist.com/article/2511...

Trump has been in office for one year. We at @nature.com did a deep dive looking at the administration's disruption of science in numbers. Take a look—the numbers are staggering. By me, @dangaristo.bsky.social, Jeff Tollefson, @kimay.bsky.social, & help from @noamross.net @scott-delaney.bsky.social

Was raised on a diet of science explainers growing up – SciShow, Veritasium, NileRed... Now I’m in one. Still processing. youtu.be/jCc1B8i_J44?...

The covid-19 pandemic opened the door to once-controversial human challenge trials. Now, volunteers are willingly catching norovirus and influenza to reveal how our immune systems really fight back

Three thought experiments involving “demons” have haunted physics for centuries. What should we make of them today?

Two clashing ideas about disorder inside black holes now point to the same strange conclusions, and it could reshape the foundations of how we think about space and time

This might be my favourite piece from 2025! I emailed 20+ physics depts to ask: what experiment would you do if you had all the money & time? Despite research purse strings tightening, scientists are wild dreamers (cue gamma ray lasers and mega colliders) 💥 www.newscientist.com/article/2501...

New tools that create ultra-precise maps of our tissues are transforming our ability to diagnose and cure once-fatal illnesses

Matter with “forbidden” symmetries was once thought to be confined to lab experiments, but is now being found in some of the world’s most extreme environments.

Not every day that we develop cures for deadly diseases, especially ones that literally make your skin fall off 😰 You've likely never heard of the tech driving this revolution: spatial multiomics. Loved working with @michael-marshall.bsky.social for this story 🔽 www.newscientist.com/article/2504...

Never underestimate the lengths people will go to to find weird rocks.

Just edited this fantastic feature by @elisecutts.bsky.social: quasicrystals are turning up in meteorites, lightning strikes and even the aftermath of the Trinity test ⚛️ A wild detective story about forbidden symmetries hiding in extreme places www.newscientist.com/article/2503...

In 1992, three physicists began an argument about how many numbers we need to fully describe the universe. Their surprisingly long-running quarrel takes us to the heart of what’s truly real

The lymphatic system is one of those things I always pretended to understand How can something so familiar still be so mysterious? Luckily this excellent feature by Carissa answers the questions I've been too scared to ask 🙏

bombshell reporting from @carolinehaskins.bsky.social on the FTC complaints people have filed in the last year asking for help with AI psychosis:

Had a blast writing this feature for @newscientist.com 💜 So much of physics seems to revolve around measuring constants to an eye-watering precision. This feature really made me appreciate how these numbers connect to nature www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

How many fundamental constants are there? Turns out that's a tricky question! Great feature from @jacklinkwan.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

Some things we see in space appear to outpace light. Now we are learning to harness these bizarre optical illusions to understand the mysteries of neutron stars, gamma ray bursts and more

Nothing can travel faster than light – but there are some pretty convincing illusions in the universe that appear to do so. From light echoes to backwards explosions, what can we learn from these unusual superluminal events? Story by me in @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2495...

Physics cements c as the ultimate speed limit, but I learnt that apparent superluminal motion is all around us, including when you flick on the lights These illusions are helping us study the big lights in the sky Amazing reporting by @astrojonny.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2495...

Who knew that my first New Scientist cover would be as an editor! Not too late to find out how scientists are mapping the hidden quantum world inside materials ▶️ bit.ly/47NEx6Z

Physicists have measured the 'quantum geometric tensor' – a thing most people have never heard of but that may shapes the hidden world of all materials Had the pleasure of working with the brilliant @kpc.bsky.social for my first cover for @newscientist.com ⚛️ www.newscientist.com/article/2494...

I absolutely loved revisiting my dissertation for @sciam.bsky.social's anniversary special! Ever since I began communicating science, I was fascinated by why non-physicists felt drawn to quantum mechanics. To answer that question, I did a deep dive in the Scientific American's archive ⬇️

In the immortal words of Insane Clown Posse: "Magnets, how do they work?" We've just discovered a new form: altermagnets. Confused? Join the club Luckily @libor-s.bsky.social explains to me why magnets are as elegant as they are confusing for @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2487...

The Vera Rubin Observatory will change everything. Seeing wider, deeper, and faster. Investigating everything from dark energy to Planet 9. Here's all you need to know. 🔭🧪 @science.org @vrubinobs.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

"Tested" is a great and beautifully made, thoughtful podcast miniseries on the history of testing for sex in sports and the way it mostly serves exclude trans women and to harm cis women with natural variation www.newamerica.org/fellows/even...

My feature article about the delayed-choice quantum eraser is out now in @physicsworld.bsky.social! physicsworld.com/a/the-quantu...

Is modern medicine overdiagnosing? www.bmj.com/content/389/...

Hello hello! Today was my first day at @newscientist.com as its new Features Editor My email inbox is now open to pitches! Send me your big-swing feature ideas about science's emerging research, disruptive discoveries or high-impact applications 📧 [email protected]

I'm leaving my role as Digital Comms Officer at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social, and joining @newscientist.com as their new Features Editor for the next 6 months I should probably avoid cliches (esp in my new editor role) but it really is a dream come true! I start next week, so watch this space 👀

"Tropical tree in Panama has evolved to kill its 'enemies' with lightning" www.livescience.com/planet-earth... by @jacklinkwan.bsky.social for Live Sciences #PlantScience

Sharks aren't so silent after all! 🦈🔊 For the first time ever, researchers recorded rig sharks making loud clicking sounds underwater. It might be a stress signal, a defence tactic… or just their teeth snapping shut My latest for @livescience.com ⬇️ www.livescience.com/animals/shar...

When the US reported a year ago that the H5N1 avian influenza virus had infected dairy cattle, it seemed some rare confluence of factors had allowed the virus to infect the cows’ udders. Then it happened again. And again. Story in @science.org on some questions about the origins of H5N1 in cows… 🧪

I’ve had a several dozen requests to write or be interviewed about the 5th anniversary of Covid and said no to all of them… except this one with @alexis-madrigal.bsky.social. Here’s our chat on the things we’ve memory-holed, and where we go from here. www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

#23andMe declared bankruptcy, so it seems like a good time to re-share @wired.com feature 🧬 23andMe sells a story about personal heritage, told through genetics... But reality is often more subjective & politicised than they let on Palestinian identity in 23andMe 🇵🇸🔽 www.wired.com/story/23andm...

Scientists have used CO2 lasers to detect radioactive material from 10m away, over 10x farther than the previous record! ☢️ The approach could find a home in nuclear security & disaster response. Always a joy to cover nuclear detection for @physicsworld.bsky.social physicsworld.com/a/co2-laser-...

Oh, when will we learn?

Hello hello #BlueSky – I'm a science journalist, I have a background in physics, and I'm new in town 😉 If you don't know me, here's my highlight reel from the past year so you can decide whether you like the cut of my jib