Humans

The movie franchise’s conclusion features black market dinosaur trading. Although it is fictional, this storyline rings alarmingly true for birds, the direct descendants of dinosaurs, warns Raj Tawney

Life

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13 July 2022

By Raj Tawney
Simone Rotella
“IT’S not about us,” Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) says to his fellow crusaders in one of the culminating scenes of Jurassic World Dominion, as they escape a research centre in ruins, terrorised by a Giganotosaurus that is about to have a showdown with a Therizinosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus rex. Fitting words for the final chapter in a movie franchise that, for three decades, has tried its best to send an environmentally conscious message through a Hollywood blockbuster lens.
In the series’ finale, director and co-screenwriter Colin Trevorrow filters the corruption of big pharma and biotech conglomerates through one evil overlord, who goes to … More

Matthew Ball is one of the first to write a book about that elusive dream of the future, the metaverse, and it is excellent – in parts

Humans

13 July 2022

By Chris Stokel-Walker
We hear a lot about the potential of the metaverse, but what is it and when will it arrive?Rocklights/Alamy
The Metaverse Matthew Ball
Liveright
BILLIONS of dollars and millions of hours have been committed to the metaverse, the buzzy vision of a digital world that promises to transform human life. Yet for all the hype, we have yet to pin down exactly what it will be and why it will matter.
One of the first to take a stab at explaining it is Matthew Ball, CEO of US venture capital fund, … More

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The Handshake is over 7 million years old, says palaeoanthropologist, explorer and comic Ella Al-Shamahi. She will explain the secrets of this most ancient and universal greeting at the Royal Institution, London, at 7pm BST on 21 July.

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Why Sharks Matter to us, the oceans and the marine economy is a subject of concern for David Shiffman, at the University of Arizona. Saving the imperilled predator will require a serious rethink of its image. Available to buy in the UK from 19 July.
Chris Reeve
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The Future of Ageing makes the case … More

An extraordinary piece called Black Hole Symphony translates cutting-edge research on black holes into an electro-symphonic score with five movements

Humans

13 July 2022

By Bethan Ackerley
David Ibbett set out to capture black hole complexity in soundRajarajan Palanimurugan
Black Hole Symphony
David Ibbett
Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts, and Multiverse Concert Series On 28 July and 25 August
TAKE a second to imagine the sound of the cosmos. What comes to mind? Is it the howling winds of a far-flung exoplanet? The roiling eruptions at the surface of the sun? Or simply the nothingness that would greet you in the boundless vacuum of space?
In the absence of recordings of the “real” sounds of our universe, you … More

Cold-brew coffee is on the rise. Enthusiasts say it has a smoother, less acidic taste and new research backs this up, finds Sam Wong, who takes his with ice and milk

Humans

6 July 2022

By Sam Wong
Jozef Polc/Alamy
A GOOD cup of coffee is all about balance. Coffee contains more than 1000 flavour compounds, including some that provide the fruity, earthy and chocolatey aromas we detect in our noses and others responsible for the acidity, bitterness and astringency we detect in our mouths.
The challenge is to extract a rich brew of desirable flavour compounds without overextracting those that make the drink bitter and overpowering. The roasting and grinding of the beans, the temperature of the water, the ratio of ground coffee to water and the time they are in contact all play a part, but different brewing … More

This vivid guide takes us into the exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant that exploded in 1986, revealing a “land of tranquillity and frozen time”

Humans

6 July 2022

By George Bass

BEFORE 26 April 1986, living near the Vladimir Lenin Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Chernobyl (nicknamed Atomic City) or in the nearby workers’ city of Prypyat was highly desirable. There was a new restaurant, supermarket, large playground and immaculate flats, all of which marked it out as one of the Soviet Union’s more prosperous areas. It was so desirable that newspapers ran adverts … More

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Humans

6 July 2022

Josie Ford
Should that be Beedfack?
Feedback’s whirlwind romance with non-fungible tokens took another knock this week on learning that a celebrity impersonator called Doop Snogg and the man who hired him, Isaac Kamlish of NFT start-up Fair.xyz, arrived at a New York NFT festival to a blizzard of business cards hurled by star-struck CEOs who thought, against all available evidence, that Doop Snogg was the real Snoop Dogg.
Was tulip mania ever this weird, Feedback wonders, putting our autograph book back in our pocket and heading for the West Coast and a bite to eat at NFT-themed burger restaurant Bored & … More

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

Humans

6 July 2022

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Scent explores the mood-altering world of perfume. Elise Vernon Pearlstine, a zoologist-cum-parfumier, tells the evolutionary story of plant fragrances that seduce and repulse, heal and protect. Available to buy from 26 July.
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Resident Evil’s Raccoon City receives a futuristic makeover in a new adaptation of the hit video-game series. You might have thought that their city planners would have learned not to build above secret bioweapon labs by now… Streaming on Netflix from 14 July.
Melvin Nicholson/Bav Media/Shutterstock
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On Sonorous Seas is a podcast accompanying a multimedia exhibition on the Isle of Mull … More