Humans

Two volunteers sign up for euthanasia to help a research project when evidence of consciousness after death emerges. The idea’s great, but the script could use a bit more life

Humans

22 February 2023

By Simon Ings
Teddy (Rahul Kohli) contronts his father (Marcelo Tubert)Magnet releasing
Next Exit
Mali Elfman
Apple TV
FROM out of nowhere, a chink of light appears. With painful slowness, it grows stronger: we are inching towards a half-open door. Beyond the door, everything seems normal. A little boy plays a game of pretend. At least, that is what we think. Soon enough we learn what is really going on: he is playing cards with his dead father.
Nothing else in Mali Elfman’s debut feature lives up to this unsettling opening, though there is a … More

The notion that our ancestors’ shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming was disastrous for our health is well established, but a new study should prompt a rethink, says Michael Marshall

Humans

| Columnist

22 February 2023

By Michael Marshall
Shutterstock/J. Lekavicius
This is an extract from the Our Human Story email newsletter. Sign up to receive it for free in your inbox every month.
STOP me if you have heard this one before: the transition to farming was a cataclysmic turn for the worse. Beginning around 12,000 years ago, some of our ancestors started cultivating crops, abandoning the egalitarian and sustainable hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had worked for hundreds of thousands of years. The result was poor health, limited diets, new diseases and unsustainable practices that have culminated with climate change and a sixth mass extinction.
This narrative has become well … More

Fat gets a bad rap, but it is key to making enjoyable foods like confit pork. You can also use the confit method for parsnips, says Sam Wong

Humans

22 February 2023

By Sam Wong
PhotoCuisine/Viel, Pierre Louis/StockFood
FAT is a controversial subject in food science. We have all been told from an early age that it is unhealthy and something we should try to eat less of. But as we have said in New Scientist before, the science that led us to fear it is deeply flawed, and many studies have found that cutting down on fat brings no clear health benefits.
In fact, fats are an essential part of our diet, a vital aid to cooking and key to what makes many of our favourite foods, such as chocolate, so enjoyable. To make smarter … More

New Scientist’s weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss

Humans

15 February 2023

ESO
Visit
Echoes from the edge of space and time is a talk by Ziri Younsi, one of the team to take the first picture of a black hole (pictured above) using the Event Horizon Telescope. At the Royal Institution in London at 2pm GMT on 25 February.

Read
The Great Displacement is Jake Bittle’s compassionate account of the human geography of the US, as climate chaos displaces families, homesteads and whole communities, and states struggle to respond. On sale from 21 February.
BFI DISTRIBUTION & ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET
Watch
Creature is a ballet adapted for film by Asif Kapadia, … More

Apple TV+’s compelling new science-fiction offering is a retro-futurist piece, more 20th-century US social drama than technofest

Humans

15 February 2023

By Bethan Ackerley
Myrtle Mayburn (Alison Pill) has big doubts about her lunar holiday homeApple TV+
Hello Tomorrow!
Amit Bhalla, Lucas Jansen
Apple TV+
THERE is a certain school of thought that says “real” science fiction must be full of ideas about how science and technology might change our world. This is often called “hard” sci-fi, and there are those who view any deviation from this style with as bellicose an attitude as possible.
I am not a purist: I prefer to think of sci-fi as a broad church, with the power to imagine almost … More

Modern humans who have inherited genetic variants related to circadian rhythms from extinct hominins are more likely to be morning people

Humans

15 February 2023

By Carissa Wong
Genetics may explain why some of us find mornings easier than othersoatawa/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Genetic variants that some people have inherited from their Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestors may increase the odds that they are morning rather than evening people.
“This was really exciting to us, and not expected,” says Tony Capra at the University of California, San Fransisco. “Neanderthals and Denisovans passed on DNA that increased our morningness, and this has been retained in modern human populations.”
Following a split from our common ancestor with archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans around … More

People in romantic relationships in 45 countries were asked how strongly they agreed with statements such as “just seeing my partner excites me”

Humans

14 February 2023

By Alice Klein
Research into love may help us understand the emotion and increase understanding between culturesKathrin Ziegler/Digital Vision/Getty Images
People in relationships report being more in love if they live in a country with high living standards, greater gender equality and a community‑centred culture.
To find out how experiences of love differ, Piotr Sorokowski at the University of Wrocław, Poland, and his colleagues surveyed 9474 adults in any form of romantic relationship across six continents.
The participants were given 45 statements, such as “just seeing my partner excites me”, and were asked how strongly … More

In the first study to look at the evolution of hair types, researchers found tightly coiled hair provides a trade-off of shielding the head from the sun while minimising unwanted insulating

Humans

14 February 2023

By Michael Le Page
Hair type has previously been studied by researchers in fields such as cosmetics and forensics, but not from an evolutionary perspectiveMireya Acierto/Getty Images
Hair that is tightly coiled offers the best protection against the sun’s potentially damaging rays, which could explain why this trait evolved in early humans in Africa and straighter hair emerged as some humans moved into cooler areas.
It has long been suggested that the reason our body hair became so fine that it is sometimes barely visible, while our scalp hair remained thick, is to prevent our heads … More