The Simonyi Professorship

Hypothetical conscious entities that randomly pop into existence may undermine our view of the universe – string theory may banish these Boltzmann brains    

The planet-spotting Kepler telescope seems doomed, but its discoveries along with a new version of the famous Drake equation will sharpen the hunt for ET (full text available to subscribers)    

A raft of new apps and hacks for Google's forthcoming device show us life beyond the smartphone    

The barium levels in a Neanderthal child's molar indicate its mother stopped breastfeeding at 14 months – more than a year earlier than modern humans    

All the latest stories on newscientist.com: watching your mind in action, Drake equation rebooted, new apps and hacks for Google Glass, and more    

The UK's wildlife isn't faring too well, but lost and new species of wild insects and plants are appearing there and elsewhere in Europe    

This brazen, beautiful, evidently male Javan leopard doesn't show obvious signs of stress – despite being recently added to the Red List of endangered species    

We no longer have to wonder what self-awareness looks like, says neuroscientist Daniel Bor – now we can see for ourselves (full text available to subscribers)    

The new coronavirus that emerged in the Arabian Peninsula last year is spreading among people that have had no contact with a known infected case    

There will be more deaths in summer and fewer in winter as climate change begins to bite in New York City. The net effect is not good news    

All the latest stories on newscientist.com: rebuilding the LHC, killer army robots, Oklahoma tornado, sniping the easy way, and more    

The tornado that struck Oklahoma City in the US on Monday was unusually large and powerful, and it came down at a bad time of day    

The first 3D-printed copies of real human hearts will help surgeons prepare to work on the problems of the originals    

The race is on to revamp the accelerator that found the Higgs boson, doubling its energy by February 2015. Michael Brooks samples the action at CERN (full text available to subscribers)    

The Bonobo and the Atheist and How Animals Grieve show that we must be careful when studying animals to learn about the origins of human traits and behaviours    

Artificial intelligence expert Mark Bishop says a ban on weapons that can deploy and destroy without human intervention is vital    

It's nearly summertime in the northern half of the world – time to find out what the festivals are laying on to entice the rational reveller    

Vitamin supplements seem to prevent atrophy of brain regions such as the hippocampus, which waste away in people with Alzheimer's    

Energy profiles of diving seabirds reveal they sacrifice flying efficiency to swim better, edging towards flightlessness    

A new computer-aiming system for rifles lets you "tag" a target with a laser pulse and works out the best moment to pull the trigger, making life easier for long-range killers