Through nine questions, from the merely intriguing to the existential and utterly bonkers, this special feature confronts the staggering vastness of the cosmos and our place in it.

Five dietary patterns that involve eating lots of plants have been linked with living up to three years longer, even among people who are genetically predisposed to have a shorter life ...

Finding rhinoviruses, which cause the common cold, in preserved medical specimens and analysing their RNA genome could let us ...

Simulations suggest that two enormous masses of hot rock have been involved in generating Earth’s magnetic field and giving it an irregular shape ...

Scientists may have stumbled across a network of vessels in the brain that helps clear out waste fluid – a discovery that could "represent a paradigm shift in our understanding of all neurodegenerativ ...

Immune cells in the brain that go rogue contribute to the death of neurons, so getting rid of them may slow the progression of neurodegenerative conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ...

A growing body of psychological research shows that the best relationships – romantic or otherwise – come with a feeling of personal growth. Columnist David Robson explores the evidence-backed ways to ...

The planets around a nearby star seem to be in the wrong order, hinting that they formed through a different mechanism than the familiar one by which most systems grow ...

Life may have begun when RNA molecules began to replicate themselves, and now we’ve finally found an RNA molecule that is very close to being able to do this ...

The activity of certain neurons may influence our endurance for exercise, and these could be targeted to help us run faster ...

Comet C/2024 E1 has been photographed as it nears Earth - but even at its closest, it will still be 150 million kilometres ...

While medical breakthroughs have made ending HIV transmission a realistic goal, experts warn that stigma and misinformation remain the most stubborn frontiers ...