Subscribe now

This week's magazine

19 April 1997

Issue 2078

New Scientist issue 2078 cover
Previous issue Next issue
arrow
Subscribe
Access our magazine content direct via our website, app or print magazine
arrow
View in the app
Check out this magazine in our easy-to-navigate mobile app
arrow
Find a previous edition online
Search through our digital archive of over 30 years of magazines

Editor's picks

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.

Flight over Wall St

Features
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.

There's a hole in my spacecraft – Just one slip could destroy a billion-dollar mission, or, worse, spell ahorrific end for some poor astrotechnician. Philip Chien reports on theperils of welding in space

Features
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.

The alien spotters

Features
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.

The plague dogs

Features

Table of contents

News

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.

Technology

Technology : Radar homes in on wasted water

A HAND-HELD radar could soon help water companies to pinpoint leaks in their pipes. Water wasted from leaks in the mains is fast becoming a hot political issue in Britain, as the worst drought in more than 200 years tightens its grip on the country. Working with the Cambridge-based scientific consultancy Mecon, North West Water …

News

Technology

Technology : How to talk your way past US border guards

News

Technology

Technology : A perfect recipe for the North Sea

News

Technology

Netropolitan :

News

Technology

Netropolitan :

News

Technology

Netropolitan :

News

Technology

Netropolitan :

News

Technology

Technology : Gassy test spots killer cassava

News

Science : Sharp blow may burst glowing bubble theory

News

Technology

Technology : Tough chemicals gobble their way through hospital waste

News

Technology

Technology : Marauding elephants feel the heat

News

Technology

Technology : Paper circuits fresh off the press

News

Technology

Technology : Standards summit for digital video

News

Alien life claim

News

Storm warning

News

Smokers' dementia

News

Accident fallout

News

Northern exposure

News

High and dry

News

Health squad

News

Fighting for air – Dirty fuel is disabling even the best antipollution devices on cars andlorries. But the oil industry is reluctant to do anything about it

News

Science : There is more to heredity than DNA

News

Science : Early wake-up call heralds longer, greener summers

News

Science : Brain cells defy division rule

News

Science : Dynamic duo spin close to the edge

News

Science : Game theory backs crackdown on petty crime

News

Science : Could drugs give proteins a quick fix?

News

Science : Boozing flies expose `alcoholic genes'

News

Europe spurns nuclear inspections

News

Pilots warned of `pancake' gusts

News

Missing module postpones space station launch

News

Ancient amber, modern DNA

News

How will the Net's cookies crumble?

News

Killer virus piles on the misery in Zaire

News

Deer succumb to the stress of the chase

News

Data treaty could price scientists out of the market

News

Foul farm air sickens workers and livestock

News

China unveils first bird's feathered cousin

News

Brain clot warning over cold cures

News

Add olive oil, lemon and a clove of garlic …

News

TB claims slammed as `dangerous'

News

Nirex failure could sink Sellafield

News

A good year for the kakapo

News

Opinion

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.

Editorial : Huntin', shootin', researchin'

CONGRATULATIONS are due this week to two very different groups of people. First, to Patrick Bateson and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge for their pioneering scientific analysis of the suffering experienced by a hunted animal. And secondly, to the men and women of the stag hunts in Exmoor and the Quantocks who agreed …

Opinion

Features

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.

Flight over Wall St

Santa Fe, New Mexico ON 29 March 1900, in a dusty seminar room at the Sorbonne in Paris, the renowned mathematician Jules Henri Poincaré was presiding as a student defended a slightly unusual doctoral dissertation. In Poincaré`s words, the topic was "somewhat remote from those our candidates are in the habit of treating". This topic …

Features

There's a hole in my spacecraft – Just one slip could destroy a billion-dollar mission, or, worse, spell ahorrific end for some poor astrotechnician. Philip Chien reports on theperils of welding in space

Features

The alien spotters

Features

The plague dogs

Features

More

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.

Review : Venus, our heavenly twin

IN THE Sun's family of planets, Venus and Earth are nearly twins. Apart from Venus being 5 per cent smaller and 18 per cent less massive than Earth, the only important difference is that it lies 40 million kilometres closer to the Sun. Venus is hotter. And this has destroyed nearly all the water, shrouding …

Books & Arts

Bestsellers : from Washington

Books & Arts

Review : Collected works

Books & Arts

Forum : Healthy, wealthy and wise?

Forum

Forum : Who owns Einstein's summerhouse? - Dan Charles stumbles on an international controversy on the edge of a German forest

Forum

Review : Smart thinking

Books & Arts

Review : A sublime athlete hones his skills

Books & Arts

Thistle diary : Phew, not a scorcher . . . again - More comment from Limboland by Tam Dalyell

Forum

Antipodes : Suspicion of the media remains an issue - Ian Lowe examines research on the communication of science

Forum

Review : Lost in the post

Books & Arts

Review : Naked philosopher

Books & Arts

Review : Benchside reading

Books & Arts

Review : Atomic insider

Books & Arts

Review : Nail them down

Books & Arts

Review : Royal mess

Books & Arts

Review : Closely observed

Books & Arts

Review : From big bang to big crunch

Books & Arts

Review : Snakes I have known and loved

Books & Arts

Regulars

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.

Feedback

DESPITE its inherent fascination, the subject of the size of birds' testicles is not one that often crops up in people's minds. It is, however, a current topic of discussion on a bird-watchers' discussion group ( ukbirdnet@dcs.bbk.ac.uk ). Apparently, species where polyandry is common are particularly well endowed. The common dunnock fits into this category …

Regulars

The Last Word

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

View all
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop