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This week's magazine

6 March 1999

Issue 2176

New Scientist issue 2176 cover
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On the cover

Features

Two to Tango

News

Jump to it

Opinion

Take a deep breath . . .
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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.

Two to Tango

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.

Secret weapons

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.

Dino dolphin

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.

Once bitten

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.

A Rewarding Tale

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 Bear Essentials and other tales from Evolution

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.

Staying alive

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.

Survival of the fattest

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.

Colourful Origins

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 probe that fell to Earth

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.

Electric dreams

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.

...fear itself

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.

An end to uncertainty

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.

Jump to it

THE first intact "jumping gene" in the human genome has been isolated by researchers in Germany. RNA viruses can copy their genes into a host's DNA, creating DNA sequences known as retrotransposons. These fragments can reinsert themselves elsewhere in the genome, sometimes causing damage. This jumping eventually stops as the retrotransposons lose the genes vital …

News

Hard to crack

News

Listen to mother

News

Warriors catch the nuclear bug

News

The crop that pumps iron

News

Take heart

News

Splitting hairs

News

Off their greens

News

Name that bird

News

Bad blood

News

Falling into place

News

Nuclear deaths

News

Top security

News

Got there at last

News

The panic gene

News

It's crazy

News

Climb every mountain

News

Clever payload

News

Technology

Strange Netfellows

News

Dollars turn swords into…more swords

News

Something in the water

News

Heart of the matter

News

Where to find lust on the mind map

News

Use it or lose it

News

Cold comfort

News

Mashed potatoes

News

Treaty to control gene trade stuck in limbo

News

Sweet sensation

News

Caring for the customer

News

Yet another reason to quit

News

Shut that door

News

Older than their years

News

It's style, but knot as you as know it

News

Hair raising

News

Technology

Double vision

News

Technology

Get the picture

News

Technology

Time for prayer

News

Deathly hush

News

Sensor sensibility

News

Clear and present danger?

News

News hungry?

News

You've got mail

News

Pass the earplugs

News

Change of heart

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.

Take a deep breath . . .

WHAT do cigarettes of the 1960s have in common with cars of the same era? Both polluted the air, killed people and were marketed as highly glamorous. And both had the potential to be made safer. The car was lucky enough to meet the young American lawyer and activist Ralph Nader. Forty years ago next …

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.

Two to Tango

ALONE they're nothing. Together, they're the greatest double act in the rainforest. The partnership between attine ants and the fungi that they grow in their underground gardens is a huge success. Top billing goes to the leafcutters, the most sophisticated of the Attini tribe. They remove more of the vegetation in a tropical American rainforest …

Features

Secret weapons

Features

Dino dolphin

Features

Once bitten

Features

A Rewarding Tale

Features

The Bear Essentials and other tales from Evolution

Features

Staying alive

Features

Survival of the fattest

Features

Colourful Origins

Features

The probe that fell to Earth

Features

Electric dreams

Features

...fear itself

Features

An end to uncertainty

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.

Behind the thin blue line

Do you fancy using your scientific qualifications helping to keep law and order? Forensic science is based upon the fact that whatever we do we are likely to leave traces behind us-clues, however small, that can be investigated to provide evidence of criminal activity or to establish innocence. We also unwittingly pick up traces of …

Careers

. . . . .

Forum

Ranging marsupials against mutton

Forum

Next stop, Titan

Books & Arts

Take me to the South Pole

Books & Arts

Press the flesh

Forum

Under lock and key

Forum

from Montreal

Books & Arts

High times

Books & Arts

Four into three

Books & Arts

What's real

Books & Arts

A thinking man

Books & Arts

Now, voyager

Books & Arts

Faux primitif

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

Golden age Question: What factors influence the intensity of autumn colours. I'm thinking particularly of areas of Canada, Maine and Japan that are renowned for the wonderful colours of their leaves in autumn. These colours are considered to be far more intense than in other areas: is this anything to do with the species of …

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Regulars

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Letters

Regulars

The last word

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