They shaped the Universe, yet the first stars ever born continue to evade the searches of astronomers like Dr Emma Chapman

What does dying feel like? By studying patients who’ve suffered near-death experiences, scientists are one step closer to finding out what happens in our brains during our last moments

Millions of AI agents are chatting and posting on a social media site where humans can only observe. Soon, we won’t understand a word

All of us are ingesting microplastics. Could dietary fibre help us get it out?

There’s a growing school of thought in neuroscience that argues every action is predetermined, or at least highly probable. That my actions are just the sum of biological and environmental interactions outside of my control. Roughly speaking, the idea is that electricity pinballs between my ears, bouncing around the memories and concepts I hold there without my being conscious of it, before arriving at a series of outputs that prime my fingers to type this very sentence. And only then, do I become aware of ‘deciding’ what I want to write. Action precedes thought, in other words. This isn’t just a theory – there’s evidence to back it up. It seems that, in certain scenarios, neurons controlling your arms and fingers are ready to fire before those involved in conscious thought are fully active. I’m skipping over a mountain of philosophy and psychology, but you get the picture. If, like me, this idea leaves you feeling a little uneasy, maybe this will help. Neuroscience has gotten incredibly close to the minutiae of the brain in the last two decades, but it hasn’t yet wrestled with the big picture. The discipline can tie different actions to different parts of the brain, but it can’t explain why it feels good to spontaneously dip your hand in a cold, clear river, for example. My point is, neuroscience is uncovering all kinds of fascinating oddities about how the brain works, but we’re a long way away from a true understanding of how this adds up. Does free will actually exist?

New research suggests fire was key to human evolution – but not in the way we previously thought

The gloves are off and the battle lines drawn. Arm yourself with these maths- and psychology-backed tricks to win six iconic games and triumph over your friends and foes

A huge US winter storm has reignited confusion about the polar vortex, the jet stream and what climate change really means for winter weather

Submarines have been diving deeper and deeper into the ocean's depths. Will we ever reach the bottom?