Issue 2187 | Magazine cover date: 22 May 1999

22 May 1999

Issue 2187

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On the cover

Features

Booting up baby

News

Island strongholds

Opinion

The name of the game

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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.

Booting up baby

Features

Rock solid

Features

Born in a storm

Features

Earth, you've got mail

Features

News

Island strongholds

BIRDS may be safer from extinction on islands rather than continents, a study of a quarter of the world's species has found. Small breeding ranges usually put island species at risk, but Stuart Pimm and his colleagues at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville found that birds living in continental lowlands are now several times …

News

Beyond cholesterol

News

Let the people speak

News

Back in business

News

Technology

A hit and myth affair

News

Blood feud

News

`Ozone-busting' fuel proves a damp squib

News

Saved by sperm

News

Under the weather

News

`No consent' row

News

We're to blame

News

Selfless parents

News

It's a hard life for dolphins on the edge

News

Way to go

News

Hearts and minds

News

Will a blast of light speed up your disc?

News

All fired up

News

Radiation payout

News

Bats are prime suspects in Malaysian epidemic

News

Go with the glow

News

Buying time

News

Steady as she goes

News

Wall-to-wall sound

News

More than before

News

The scent of music

News

Blooming unnatural

News

Technology

Time to chill out

News

Technology

Fighting back

News

Technology

Prize surprise

News

Blind date

News

Fit for a king

News

High and lows

News

Seeing red will be the signal to attack

News

Dangerous talk

News

Vain deaths

News

Really far out

News

Soft focusing

News

NASA goes to the rescue of shaky home videos

News

HMS Elusive

News

Monarchs under siege

News

Poison patent alarms aid charity

News

Opinion

The name of the game

IT'S not often that a nation sees its leading doctors, scientists and parliamentarians publishing reports on the same topic at the same time. But the British Medical Association, the Royal Society and an influential parliamentary select committee have all weighed in on genetically modified foods this week. There are no surprises from the Royal Society, …

Opinion

Features

Booting up baby

THE YOUNGSTER eyes me suspiciously as I enter the room, its gaze following as I cross the floor. Then after a while, it loses interest and turns back to its toy dinosaur. But then I never was any good with kids. When Rodney Brooks set out to build a humanoid robot with the intelligence of …

Features

Rock solid

Features

Born in a storm

Features

Earth, you've got mail

Features

Big Weather

MUCH of science depends on being in the right place at the right time. Isaac Newton could never have come up with the general theory of relativity, because he lacked the observational evidence about the nature of light on which Albert Einstein drew. But, as the mathematical physicist Paul Dirac pointed out, in the 1920s …

Inside Science

. . . . .

Forum

Here I stand . . .

Forum

Now you see it, now you don't

Forum

Bits of humans

Books & Arts

Let's get organised

Books & Arts

California undreamt

Books & Arts

from Melbourne

Books & Arts

Life

Woman, uncut

Books & Arts

Pit stop

Books & Arts

Dreamtime

Books & Arts

Not the full deck

Books & Arts

Regulars

The Last Word

Natural gunk Question: While walking in the Pennines I often notice that streams have lumps of foam floating on their surface, particularly near waterfalls. There are no sources of human pollution upstream, so what causes the foam? Answer: The foam is created by natural surfactants released into the water from decaying plant material upstream. Perhaps …

This week's magazine

22 May 1999

On the cover

Booting up baby

Rock solid

Born in a storm

Earth, you've got mail

Table of contents

News

Island strongholds

Beyond cholesterol

Let the people speak

Back in business

Technology

A hit and myth affair

Blood feud

`Ozone-busting' fuel proves a damp squib

Saved by sperm

Under the weather

`No consent' row

We're to blame

Selfless parents

It's a hard life for dolphins on the edge

Way to go

Hearts and minds

Will a blast of light speed up your disc?

All fired up

Radiation payout

Bats are prime suspects in Malaysian epidemic

Go with the glow

Buying time

Steady as she goes

Wall-to-wall sound

More than before

The scent of music

Blooming unnatural

Technology

Time to chill out

Technology

Fighting back

Technology

Prize surprise

Blind date

Fit for a king

High and lows

Seeing red will be the signal to attack

Dangerous talk

Vain deaths

Really far out

Soft focusing

NASA goes to the rescue of shaky home videos

HMS Elusive

Monarchs under siege

Poison patent alarms aid charity

Opinion

The name of the game

Features

Booting up baby

Rock solid

Born in a storm

Earth, you've got mail

More

Big Weather

. . . . .

Here I stand . . .

Now you see it, now you don't

Bits of humans

Let's get organised

California undreamt

from Melbourne

Life

Woman, uncut

Pit stop

Dreamtime

Not the full deck

Regulars

The Last Word

Feedback

Regulars

Letters