Science & technology
The Scrap Kings
Scrapyards adopt new high-tech ways to dismantle cars
Advanced “deproduction” lines are turning the car business into a circular industry
When mammals attack
A spectacular new fossil shows a mammal making a meal of a dinosaur
The two animals were interrupted during a fight to the death
Turning up the heat
Are the current heatwaves evidence that climate change is speeding up?
All sorts of records are being broken in all sorts of places
Then there were three
A new treatment for Alzheimer’s offers hope—but raises questions, too
Two new drugs have now been proved effective against the disease
Not that sort of monolith
An enormous—and unexpected—lump of granite has been found on the Moon
The discovery sheds light on lunar history, and suggests how other moons might be explored
Choosing a fingerprint
A Canadian lake could mark the start of humanity’s geological epoch
Plutonium, carbon and plastic mark a new phase in Earth’s history
What the bones tell
Sabre-tooth tigers and dire wolves were in trouble before they vanished
Bones recovered from tar pits suggest both animals were becoming badly inbred
Superforecasting the end of the world
What are the chances of an AI apocalypse?
Professional “superforecasters” are more optimistic about the future than AI experts
Hitting peak peak
A gigantic landslide shows the limit to how high mountains can grow
Enough rock fell off a Himalayan peak to bury Paris to the height of the Eiffel Tower
Digging up the jungle
New technology could cement Indonesia’s dominance of vital nickel
But harvesting the crucial metal will be bad news for the country’s rainforests
The Fred Flintstone diet
A Belgian company wants to create woolly-mammoth burgers
DNA from extinct species is inspiring other business plans, too
Raiding Davy Jones’s locker
Deep-sea mining may soon ease the world’s battery-metal shortage
Taking nickel from rainforests destroys 30 times more life than getting it from the depths