What the Atlantic's mysterious 'cold blob' means

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The “cold blob” appears in a data visualisation showing average temperatures in 2015, relative to the 1951-80 average

NASA Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center

Over the past 150 years, Earth’s entire surface has been warming, except for one patch of the north Atlantic. Located south-east of Greenland, this area has cooled by as much as 1°C and is known as the “warming hole” or the “cold blob”. Scientists have been split over why this cold blob exists, but the latest evidence backs up the idea that it is caused by a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the system of currents that transports warmth from the tropics to Europe. Read more

Researchers investigating the origins of Stonehenge’s enigmatic altar stone say it is possible that the 6-tonne rock was carried southwards from Scotland by a glacier – but this hypothesis relies on an unlikely series of events, making it more likely that humans transported it. “These people that erected Stonehenge weren’t in any rush. This could have been much like the pyramids, a multi-year endeavour, so it doesn’t need to happen on our modern timescales of months,” says Anthony Clarke at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Read more

Roger Penrose was attending the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1954 when he came across the work of Maurits Cornelis Escher, an artist and print-maker whose work draws heavily on mathematical concepts like infinity and paradox. Penrose was immediately “spellbound” by their mathematical beauty. Now, Escher’s Penrose-inspired prints, together with more than 150 other works, will feature in “M.C. Escher: The Exhibition” at Somerset House in London from 5 June. It is a major retrospective of the artist’s work, including drawings and prints from his entire career. Explore the images

Giulia Enders made her name with Gut, an exploration of our intestines. Now, in the compelling follow-up Organ Speak, she’s listening to what our other organs are telling us. Read more

Can visualising your goals really change your behaviour? Why does the brain focus so heavily on negative outcomes? And could techniques often dismissed as "woo" actually help you achieve what you want? New Scientist journalists Cat de Lange and Helen Thomson investigate the neuroscience of manifestation. Listen here

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist who wrote three books about life in the ocean, before a letter, published in The Boston Herald, prompted a change of focus. The letter described the deadly impact of the pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) on a bird population in Massachusetts. Carson set off to research the environmental effects of pesticides: she pencilled in “Silent Spring” as the title for a chapter on birds, but her agent suggested that it worked for the book as a whole. Carson’s look at the dire effects of industrial and agricultural pollution birthed the modern environmental movement when it was first published – and remains as crucial a read today, finds Rowan Hooper. Read more

Becoming a parent may make you love your partner less, and according to Valentina Rauch-Anderegg – an independent psychologist in Zurich, Switzerland – it’s not surprising why. Read more

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