Issue 2215 | Magazine cover date: 4 December 1999 | New Scientist

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4 December 1999

Issue 2215

New Scientist issue 2215 cover

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On the cover

Features

The coachman's knee

News

Toxic test

Westminster Diary

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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.

The coachman's knee

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.

Seek and destroy

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.

Striking the right note

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.

Lake of 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.

Get connected

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.

Toxic test

TECHNIQUES for measuring soil pollutants that reflect how much is entering the food chain give a better picture of the threat from contaminated land than simply measuring the total amounts present (Environmental Science & Technology, vol 33, p 4346). Martin Alexander of Cornell University, New York, found that the amount of DDT extracted from soil …

News

You scratch my back, honey, and then maybe…

News

Not all bad

News

Into the unknown

News

Nerve repair kit

News

Self-restraint

News

Saving millions

News

Bugs give clean sites a glowing recommendation

News

Chips are down

News

Ransom demand

News

Cyber debt

News

Time-bomb ticks

News

Web of mystery

News

Tripped up

News

Stop pussyfooting around on my keyboard

News

Wasteland Europe

News

Drink problem

News

Hot-and-cold chips with running fluids

News

Technology

Knowledge is power

News

Humane killing

News

Learning curve

News

Beware of the bird

News

Pulling power

News

Scarred by space

News

Hard to stomach

News

Mousetrap

News

Double vision

News

Frozen chips

News

End of the line?

News

The frozen cells that heal sick livers

News

Cost of a crash

News

Genetic milestone

News

Big new worlds

News

Hang on in there

News

Mice bring hope to HIV mothers-to-be

News

Deafening impact

News

Toxic leak

News

A different beat

News

Acoustic eye that works in the murk

News

Rollersnake

News

Technology

Boy or girl?

News

Technology

Saving knees

News

Technology

Marked movies

News

Needle match

News

Believe us now?

News

Extinction point

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.

Humans

Westminster Diary

ONE of the most distressing consequences of a car crash is "submarining"—when a person's pelvis is forced down into the car seat. In such a situation, the lap portion of the seat belt can ride up, injuring the abdomen. The Cheshire-based company Safety Engineering Consultants thinks it may have a way to stop this horrendous …

Opinion

Pushing the politicians

Opinion

And for my grand finale…

Opinion

I am a camera

Opinion

Showdown in Seattle

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.

The coachman's knee

A coachman's lot was not a happy one in 18th-century London. The streets were dirty and crowded. The air was grimy and damp, and he was exposed to the elements day and night. And, as if that wasn't enough, he had a lot of trouble with his legs. Tight gaiters and the constant banging of …

Features

Seek and destroy

Features

Striking the right note

Features

Lake of dreams

Features

Get connected

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.

Big and deadly

Fancy a face-to-face with the world's largest predators? Try Giants, the book that accompanies biologist Nigel Marven's television series. Beautiful photos of Marven with boas, bears, birds, sharks, lizards and—beware, arachnophobes—huge tarantulas. Behind the beasts and their tales lies a little biology and a bit of conservation. Published by HarperCollins, £14.99, ISBN 0002201577.

Books & Arts

Ukraine scars

Books & Arts

Quantum fax

Books & Arts

Talk to me

Books & Arts

Bestsellers from Oxford

Books & Arts

The power of six

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

CABLES broken by careless construction crews are the bane of the telecommunications industry. One slip of a pickaxe can disrupt Internet and phone traffic for hours or even days. So telecoms executives listened very attentively when a cable engineer from Singapore gave a talk in Hong Kong recently, explaining how his crowded little country manages …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word