SCI-TECH

Google admits its new balloon-based connectivity project is a "moonshot" to bring the last two-thirds of the global population online. How realistic is the audacious plan?    

All the latest on newscientist.com: living without oxygen, writing the body, how the Med is killing the Atlantic, Lego Curiosity, slimy computers, and more    

After suffering the worst smog on record earlier this year, China has decided to cut the emission of air pollutants by 30 per cent in 5 years    

Eight people have been selected as the first US astronauts since Apollo to be trained for deep space, but will they visit an asteroid or Mars?    

Wearable infrared sensors will give firefighters vital information about temperature and layout when they enter a burning, smoke-filled building    

People living at high altitude have evolved different ways to cope with low oxygen levels. Understanding how could benefit people in intensive care (full text available to subscribers)    

Meet Heath, the first baby born using a new hormone that should reduce risk of a dangerous IVF-related condition    

NASA might not be able to save its damaged space telescope Kepler, but it could begin a second career spotting new worlds with a gravitational lens    

Bright and breezy or complex and serious? Gulp and Life's Vital Link highlight two ways to tell the story of key parts of our anatomy    

The ability to "remember" electrical resistance could make slime mould a useful material for building living computers    

A model of Curiosity is the latest of the many Lego space kits: it was demanded by thousands of space fans and designed by an engineer from the real Mars rover    

Just as bats use sound to navigate, an app now being developed could help you find your way around using sound alone    

A new zone of crust-swallowing geological faults seems to be opening in the Atlantic – the vast ocean may have "caught" subduction from the dying Mediterranean    

If we want to progress towards a theory of everything, we need to understand how space and time fit together – if they do at all, says Anil Ananthaswamy (full text available to subscribers)    

William Blake's death mask (with EEG) next to a Cyberman's head and a gargoyle: a new exhibition crosses the lines between humans and the things we make    

Stephen Hawking's considered decision to support an academic boycott of Israeli institutions should not be derided, says Jonathan Rosenhead    

This gloriously freakish fringe tree frog looks like it belongs in a Hayao Miyazaki fantasy, but in fact it lives in a safe haven that's almost as magical    

Eben Bayer's company makes packaging from agricultural waste and the mycelium of mushrooms – he says the next step is to make building materials this way    

Macaques and humans share similarities in a brain structure involved in theory of mind – the ability to infer what others are thinking or feeling    

Mary-Claire King, who discovered the BRCA1 cancer-related gene, says she is delighted by the US Supreme Court ruling that makes it illegal to patent it    

A drop in oyster harvests may be down to the difficulty oyster larvae have in making shells when seawater acidifies    

The White House has "high confidence" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons, after a breakdown product of sarin was found in urine samples    

Burned-out vehicles in the aftermath of the Black Forest fire in Colorado show the destructive power of the worst wildfire in the state's history