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2H2R3TY Larry Niven attends The 36th and 37th Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards Gala at Taglyan Complex, Los Angeles, CA on October 22, 2021

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An interview with Larry Niven – Ringworld author and sci-fi legend

The author of Ringworld, the latest read for the New Scientist Book Club, is quizzed on everything from if he’d like to meet an alien to the art of writing

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Physicists reveal the secret to chopping onions without crying

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The Last of Us S2 E2 The Last of Us Season 2 - Episode 2

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Is the fungal science in The Last of Us going off the rails?

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Sci-fi books, Culture - 2025

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Our favourite science fiction books of all time (the ones we forgot)

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T8GENK Fresh new potatoes on wooden background. Solanum tuberosum

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England has just given the thumbs up to gene-edited plants. Hooray!

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Fierce war on alien ruins, 3D illustration.; Shutterstock ID 2188388355; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

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The best new science fiction books of May 2025

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Mandatory Credit: Photo by Blue Origin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock (15255350a) Texas, USA: New Shepard-31 Capsule Recovery with the crew : Katy Perry, American Singer, Aisha Bowe, American aerospace engineer, Lauren Sanchez, American presenter and companion of Jeff Bezos, Kerianne Flynn, American Producer, Gayle King, American journalist, and Amanda N. Nguyen (Amanda Nguyen), Activist. Suborbital launch system and landing mission. This suborbital flight, the 31st in the New Shepard program and the 11th crewed, will extend Blue Origin's initiative to democratize access to space, having already carried 52 people beyond the Karman line. USA. Blue Origin All-Women Crew Historic Space Launch, Texas, USA - 14 Apr 2025

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Does science have a future in the US?

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Liquid Gold Anna Curran Department of Mathematics A lattice of bubbles inside a ring that has been dipped in soapy water. The bubbles hold their shape because of molecules in the dish soap called surfactants, which stabilise the interface. Surfactants are all around us - for example, they allow soap to break down dirt and bacteria, and they are given to premature babies to help them inflate their lungs. Conversely, they threaten the efficacy of various industrial applications such as self-cleaning surfaces and laptop cooling systems. My research focuses on mathematically modelling the effect of these molecules at a f luid interface, in order to gain a greater understanding of how to control their behaviour in these applications.

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Photography contest spotlights the beauty of science in vivid detail

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Earth

Ancient humans may have faced radiation risk 41,000 years ago

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HavenGreen_EP3_NETFLIX USSCallister_Unit

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Black Mirror returns full of delights and disappointments

Black Mirror's new season is a mixed bag, ranging from a sublimely plotted romp to one of the worst episodes to date. And it's still playing fast and loose with its sci-fi concepts, finds Bethan Ackerley

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Environment

Lab-grown chicken could be made chewier using artificial capillaries

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Environment

Inside the mouth-watering race to master lab-grown chocolate

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Book Club: Readers admit they weren’t impressed with our latest novel

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Larry Niven on creating Ringworld, a 'great gaudy intellectual toy'

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