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This week's magazine

10 May 1997

Issue 2081

New Scientist issue 2081 cover
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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.

Our flexible friend

Features
Colossal adventures

Colossal adventures

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.

Who killed Frank Olson?

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.

Pay attention Rover

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.

Antipodes : Robert May...downloaded

ROBERT MAY, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK government, has the reputation of calling a spade a spade—or more likely, as he puts it, "a bloody shovel". May is an Australian who is charged with pushing the virtues of science, technology and innovation in the corridors and committee rooms of Westminster. It is his job …

News

Scan : Smuggling birds

News

Scan : Gem of an idea

News

Random samples : The paper chase changes direction

News

Changing places :

News

Bytes : Net gain

News

Research: in the field : Making playgrounds safer

News

Research: in the field : Water reduces diversity

News

Technology

Technology : Pulling the trigger on tough tumours

News

Technology

Netropolitan :

News

Technology

Netropolitan :

News

Technology

Technology : Bugs feasting on chips pick up pollutants

News

Technology

Technology : Japanese shape up with naturally sweet solution

News

Science : Rapid-fire nerves leave squids' enemies standing

News

Technology

Technology : Curlywurly cable plumbs the depths

News

Technology

Technology : Protein plugs gaps in gum disease

News

Science : Do whales talk through brittle `beaks'?

News

Science : Malaria's sticky killer surrenders

News

Science : Dead star sends us high-speed debris

News

Science : Global wobbling may melt the ice

News

Science : Putting randomness in order

News

Technology

Technology : Profits pick up for hotels with a pulse

News

Technology

Technology : Twinning techniques to map the mind

News

Supermagnet

News

Unhealthy eating

News

Virtual wipeout

News

Food crackdown

News

Standing down

News

Yellow for danger

News

Science : Emotions need forty winks

News

Quick-change toad beats the drought

News

Salmon boycott

News

Acute vision

News

Filters put the squeeze on alien stowaways

News

Sellafield leaves its mark on the frozen north

News

Cancer scare for cellphone users

News

Mixed messages feed eating disorders

News

Dioxin limits split Japan's pollution gurus

News

NASA's million to one shot

News

Labour combines science and energy

News

No end in sight for Net name game

News

Can bison replace engines of war?

News

Europe gets tough on data privacy

News

Haemophiliacs with HIV fight on for compensation

News

Seductive software leaves psychology tests null and void

News

Noise pollution robs kids of language skills

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 : Science deserves better

A WEEK has passed since Labour's landslide victory in Britain's general election. And while the smiles may not yet have disappeared from the faces of the majority who wanted a change after 18 years of Conservative rule, the government now has to prove it can make a real difference. During the run-up to the election, …

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.

Our flexible friend

Winnipeg, Canada ROGER JONES wants to take us back to the Stone Age, though what he has in mind has nothing to do with primitive living. In his sights Jones has cars, computers and even circuit boards made out stone's artificial counterpart, concrete. Jones, who works for Materials Technology in Reno, Nevada, thinks his new …

Features

Colossal adventures

Features

Who killed Frank Olson?

Features

Pay attention Rover

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.

Antipodes : Science and technology rises in the west

IT MAY be hard for those in the east to swallow, but Western Australia has stolen a march on the other Australian states by becoming the first to launch a formal state science and technology policy. Deputy Premier Hendy Cowan announced the policy last month as part of the Budget process. And the policy is …

Forum

Thistle diary : Think globally, act globally

Forum

Bestsellers : from Melbourne

Books & Arts

Forum : Beware superstars bearing opinions

Forum

Forum : If you know a better hole...

Forum

Review : We are the fungus

Books & Arts

Review : Cosmic eyebrows

Books & Arts

Review : Movie bugs

Books & Arts

Review : Plant art

Books & Arts

Review : The ultimate free lunch

Books & Arts

Review : City roots

Books & Arts

Review : Heavenly views

Books & Arts

Review : Ancient Macdonalds

Books & Arts

Review : Leading lights

Books & Arts

Review : Curious . . .

Books & Arts

Review : . . . and curiouser

Books & Arts

Review : Collected works

Books & Arts

Review : Hasta la vista, babies

Books & Arts

Review : One in the eye for creationists

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.

The Last Word

Summer spectrum Q: Why do the flowers that bloom in the spring such as snowdrop, crocus, daffodil, forsythia, broom and hawthorn tend to be white or yellow, while the flowers of summer are all colours? A: While there is often an association between flower colour and pollinator (bird-pollinated flowers tend to red, moth-pollinated flowers to …

Regulars

Feedback

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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