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Research and scientific enquiry can reveal much about human society, from ethics and religion to education and economics, while societal decisions about which areas of research to prioritise steer the direction of science. Follow the latest developments as we examine the interplay between science, politics, and policy.

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The weird tale of California Forever, a tech billionaire instant city

A group of Silicon Valley investors wants to see a brand new community for 50,000 people rise out of the dirt north of San Francisco. It's really not a good idea, says Annalee Newitz

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A road sign is posted near a parcel of land recently purchased by Flannery Associates near Rio Vista, California on September 15, 2023. A stealth campaign by Silicon Valley elites with a dream of turning a swath of California farmland into a new age city has ranchers who live here challenging their tactics as well as their motives. The project first surfaced when a mysterious buyer started gobbling up parcels of land in this rural outback between San Francisco and Sacramento. The buyer, first revealed by the New York Times in August, turned out to be a secretive outfit called Flannery Associates. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

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Alastair Reynolds: An exclusive short story for New Scientist

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Alastair Reynolds: An exclusive short story for New Scientist

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Why reports that Western civilisation will soon collapse are premature

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Why reports that Western civilisation will soon collapse are premature
Cannabis related items on display at Housing Works, New York's first legal cannabis dispensary

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The ancient origins of cannabis and our changing attitudes towards it

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Pillars of Creation (NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image) By combining images of the iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard NASA???s James Webb Space Telescope, the universe has been framed in its infrared glory. Webb???s near-infrared image was fused with its mid-infrared image, setting this star-forming region ablaze with new details. Myriad stars are spread throughout the scene. The stars primarily show up in near-infrared light, marking a contribution of Webb???s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). Near-infrared light also reveals thousands of newly formed stars ??? look for bright orange spheres that lie just outside the dusty pillars. In mid-infrared light, the dust is on full display. The contributions from Webb???s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are most apparent in the layers of diffuse, orange dust that drape the top of the image, relaxing into a V. The densest regions of dust are cast in deep indigo hues, obscuring our view of the activities inside the dense pillars. Dust also makes up the spire-like pillars that extend from the bottom left to the top right. This is one of the reasons why the region is overflowing with stars ??? dust is a major ingredient of star formation. When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars. Newly formed stars are especially apparent at the edges of the top two pillars ??? they are practically bursting onto the scene. At the top edge of the second pillar, undulating detail in red hints at even more embedded stars. These are even younger, and are quite active as they form. The lava-like regions capture their periodic ejections. As stars form, they periodically send out supersonic jets that can interact within clouds of material, like these thick pillars of gas and dust. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, and will continue to form for mi

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Why 'existential humility' may be the answer to today's culture wars

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2T17MYG Los Angeles, United States. 12th Oct, 2023. File photo dated October 06, 2019 of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith attend Paramount Pictures' premiere of Gemini Man in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed in a new interview that she and her husband Will Smith have been separated since 2016. Though the actors were living completely separate lives for seven years, they were not ready to publicly confirm the news before, she confessed to NBC. Photo by Lionel Hahn/ABACAPRESS.COM Credit: Abaca Press/Alamy Live News

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Don't click on the war

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Witch's cauldron with potion and different magic attributes for ritual on dark background

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7 spooky science stories that will have you hiding behind the couch

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Hundreds of pro-cannabis demonstrators march in New York City

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Legalising marijuana hasn't been the quick fix the US hoped for

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The Mexican hypothesis debunked: How marijuana really came to the US

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The Global Marijuana March is held across many cities each year

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6 charts that explain the cannabis revolution

As popular discussion of cannabis has moved away from the drug trade and toward potential medical applications, views about safety and support for legalisation have changed hugely in the US

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Ig Nobel prizes 2023: Rock licking and other unlikely winners

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Ig Nobel prizes 2023: Rock licking and other unlikely winners

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Disinformation wars: The fight against fake news in the age of AI

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Disinformation wars: The fight against fake news in the age of AI

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Can the UK’s new ARIA science agency deliver ‘moonshot’ technologies?

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There are many great science and technology podcasts at the moment

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The 10 best science and technology podcasts right now

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