Issue 1951 | Magazine cover date: 12 November 1994

12 November 1994

Issue 1951

On the cover

Features

Is it a cow? Is it a bird?: The chick looks like a baby punk. It grows into something resembling a cross between a turkey and a pheasant, and reeks of manure

News

Enigma No 796

Opinion

Swap you one fried egg ...

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New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Is it a cow? Is it a bird?: The chick looks like a baby punk. It grows into something resembling a cross between a turkey and a pheasant, and reeks of manure

Features

Genetic testings is becoming the parents' dilemma

Features

Greener way to solar power

Features

Look to the insect ...: For years, insect-like robots were graceless shufflers, easily outclassed by the common cockroach. Big changes are afoot

Features

News

Enigma No 796

Wrong numbers If you add together consecutive pairs of the digits of an ENIGMA (E+N, N+I, I+G, and so on), the results will be WRONG (if they are right!). In the words and letters in capitals above, different letters as usual represent different digits. The same letter always represents the same digit. Send in NOW. …

News

Technology

Bright sparks check up on chimneys

News

Technology

Channel 5 costs head into orbit

News

Technology

Sulphur bulbs light the way to cheaper fuel bills

News

Technology

Buyers may pay more for recycling

News

Technology

Emergency rescue saves Poland's pine forests

News

Herpes gene tackles brain tumours

News

Illegal photocopies

News

Smell of fertility

News

Is that a moonrock round your neck?

News

World scale

News

Setback at CERN

News

Serfs of academe

News

Chernobyl study

News

Head-on collision over transport: The British government has received its sternest warning yet that its unflagging support for the car is seriously at odds with its own green principles

News

Baby oil reveals neutrino's secrets

News

`Warm' white dwarf comes in from the cold

News

Do we live in a magnetic monopole?

News

Ringside seat gives Galileo a glittering display

News

Epidurals are not a pain in the back

News

Are the Antipodes in hot water?

News

Technology

Digital fingerprints protect artwork

News

Drug brings relief to big spenders

News

Alien termites set up home in Devon

News

How I made a nuclear bomb and other stories

News

Flying in the face of a pilot's need to sleep

News

Simple food guide goes to the heart of the matter

News

Queue here for the superhighway ...

News

Education is the best prevention

News

Mass sackings threat to councils

News

Biotechnology faces trial by jury

News

France gambles on Rhine-Rhoˆne canal

News

Egg-stealing dinosaur was innocent, OK

News

Deadly worm may be turning drug-resistant

News

Opinion

Swap you one fried egg ...

HOWLS of outrage can be expected from biscuit manufacturers, confectioners, and chip shop owners this week when the British government finally releases its report on how to eat for a healthy life. They already had a whinge when parts of the report were leaked in August. Unfortunately, the full report is likely to make them …

Opinion

Off the record

Opinion

Features

Is it a cow? Is it a bird?: The chick looks like a baby punk. It grows into something resembling a cross between a turkey and a pheasant, and reeks of manure

AS our dugout canoe floats silently down a tributary of the Orinoco river in the llanos, the central plains of Venezuela, I realise we are being observed. The unblinking eyes of a large cayman rise above the muddy waters to study our boat, which carries six scientists and me. I shift uneasily, aware that our …

Features

Genetic testings is becoming the parents' dilemma

Features

Greener way to solar power

Features

Look to the insect ...: For years, insect-like robots were graceless shufflers, easily outclassed by the common cockroach. Big changes are afoot

Features

Some very risky business: Comment from Westminster

I VISITED Austria with the All Party Heritage Group late this summer. I would hasten though to counter any charges of "sleaze" and reassure readers that my visit was not a "freebie". All MPs who went paid for themselves. During our stay in Vienna, we met Maria Rauch-Kallat, the Austrian minister of the environment, who …

Forum

James Cook crowned the vice-captain of universities: Examines the latest research funding

Forum

So who's being woolly minded now?

Forum

Vote, vote, vote for fuzzy logic: How the maybes could yet win out in a democracy

Forum

Bodies of knowledge: The Guinness Encyclopedia of Human Being by Robert Youngson, Guinness, pp 284, £21.95 The Guinness Encyclopedia of Science by Robert Youngson, Guinness, pp 306, £21.95

Books & Arts

Pleasantly puzzling pastimes

Books & Arts

Sexual innocents and serendipity: The Science of Desire: The Search for the Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior by Dean Hamer and Peter Copeland, Simon & Schuster, pp 272, $23

Books & Arts

The American way of health: Vandals at the Gates of Medicine by Miguel A. Faria, Hacienda Publishing, Macon, Georgia, pp 403, $41.95

Books & Arts

Our debt to wild medicine: Earthly Goods: Medicine Hunting in the Rainforest by Christopher Joyce, Little Brown, pp 304, £16.99

Books & Arts

The art of the aerial eye

Books & Arts

In our image ... Rebecca Horn Exhibition at the Tate Gallery and Serpentine Gallery, London

Books & Arts

Hard times of an intellectual outsider

Books & Arts

Regulars

Feedback

GOODNESS, how time flies. Suddenly it's nearly December, and time for the Feedback Christmas Competition. This year you are invited to suggest the title and (this bit is optional) a maximum of 45 words of blurb for the science or technology hook that you would most like to read. You may submit as many entries …

Regulars

This week's magazine

12 November 1994

On the cover

Is it a cow? Is it a bird?: The chick looks like a baby punk. It grows into something resembling a cross between a turkey and a pheasant, and reeks of manure

Genetic testings is becoming the parents' dilemma

Greener way to solar power

Look to the insect ...: For years, insect-like robots were graceless shufflers, easily outclassed by the common cockroach. Big changes are afoot

Table of contents

News

Enigma No 796

Technology

Bright sparks check up on chimneys

Technology

Channel 5 costs head into orbit

Technology

Sulphur bulbs light the way to cheaper fuel bills

Technology

Buyers may pay more for recycling

Technology

Emergency rescue saves Poland's pine forests

Herpes gene tackles brain tumours

Illegal photocopies

Smell of fertility

Is that a moonrock round your neck?

World scale

Setback at CERN

Serfs of academe

Chernobyl study

Head-on collision over transport: The British government has received its sternest warning yet that its unflagging support for the car is seriously at odds with its own green principles

Baby oil reveals neutrino's secrets

`Warm' white dwarf comes in from the cold

Do we live in a magnetic monopole?

Ringside seat gives Galileo a glittering display

Epidurals are not a pain in the back

Are the Antipodes in hot water?

Technology

Digital fingerprints protect artwork

Drug brings relief to big spenders

Alien termites set up home in Devon

How I made a nuclear bomb and other stories

Flying in the face of a pilot's need to sleep

Simple food guide goes to the heart of the matter

Queue here for the superhighway ...

Education is the best prevention

Mass sackings threat to councils

Biotechnology faces trial by jury

France gambles on Rhine-Rhoˆne canal

Egg-stealing dinosaur was innocent, OK

Deadly worm may be turning drug-resistant

Opinion

Swap you one fried egg ...

Off the record

Features

Is it a cow? Is it a bird?: The chick looks like a baby punk. It grows into something resembling a cross between a turkey and a pheasant, and reeks of manure

Genetic testings is becoming the parents' dilemma

Greener way to solar power

Look to the insect ...: For years, insect-like robots were graceless shufflers, easily outclassed by the common cockroach. Big changes are afoot

More

Some very risky business: Comment from Westminster

James Cook crowned the vice-captain of universities: Examines the latest research funding

So who's being woolly minded now?

Vote, vote, vote for fuzzy logic: How the maybes could yet win out in a democracy

Bodies of knowledge: The Guinness Encyclopedia of Human Being by Robert Youngson, Guinness, pp 284, £21.95 The Guinness Encyclopedia of Science by Robert Youngson, Guinness, pp 306, £21.95

Pleasantly puzzling pastimes

Sexual innocents and serendipity: The Science of Desire: The Search for the Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior by Dean Hamer and Peter Copeland, Simon & Schuster, pp 272, $23

The American way of health: Vandals at the Gates of Medicine by Miguel A. Faria, Hacienda Publishing, Macon, Georgia, pp 403, $41.95

Our debt to wild medicine: Earthly Goods: Medicine Hunting in the Rainforest by Christopher Joyce, Little Brown, pp 304, £16.99

The art of the aerial eye

In our image ... Rebecca Horn Exhibition at the Tate Gallery and Serpentine Gallery, London

Hard times of an intellectual outsider

Regulars

Feedback

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word