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This week's magazine

20 January 2001

Issue 2274

New Scientist issue 2274 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.

The prince's poison

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.

Morning Glory

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.

Life

The freelance poisoner

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 ideas machine

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.

To hell and back

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.

Sprinters set the pace for flagging hearts

THE protein that enables top sprinters to run so fast could soon be helping people who have heart problems. Sprinters get their explosive power from "fast-twitch" muscle fibres, says Joseph Metzger of the University of Michigan. These contain a protein called parvalbumin, which helps the fibres relax quickly by soaking up calcium ions inside the …

News

Carefree calling

News

Early-bird gene

News

Junk food

News

Treated like garbage

News

Lacking that spark

News

Udder nonsense

News

Humans

Farewell to arms control

News

Humans

An ill wind

News

Humans

Big science gets the silent treatment

News

Humans

Revolution aborted?

News

Fair play

News

Talking with skyscrapers

News

Everyone's recorder

News

Spirit of the road

News

Technology

Would you believe IT?

News

Humans

Star Wars: the new menace

News

Pollution purgatory, fact or fiction?

News

From the heart

News

Northern exposure

News

I'm your tiniest fan

News

Gene machine

News

Moment-after injection could block HIV

News

A clear winner

News

Technology

No sweat

News

Technology

Cushy acoustics

News

Technology

Take your partners

News

Health

What went wrong?

News

Cut-off genes are all the rage

News

The big cull

News

Signs of a split

News

Death of Noah

News

Too close for comfort

News

Wild heritage

News

After the war is over

News

One too many

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.

Slipping to our attention

AN Australian landslide last made headlines in 1997 when 18 people died at the Thredbo ski resort in southern New South Wales. But less dramatic examples occur every year. Though Australians think they live in a relatively stable country, a recent report by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) points out that since the mid-19th …

Opinion

Westminster Diary

Opinion

Fighting back

Opinion

Fool's gold

Opinion

Meddling with monkeys

Opinion

Uranium-burgers

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 prince's poison

To some people, the lilac-petalled autumn crocus is just a pretty flower, a welcome touch of colour in a drab October landscape. The delicate blooms, known to British countryfolk as meadow saffron or dainty maidens, spring up after the leaves have died away. To farmers, they are anything but welcome. Every part of the plant …

Features

Morning Glory

Features

Life

The freelance poisoner

Features

The ideas machine

Features

To hell and back

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.

Intoxicating Minds by Ciaran Regan

Intoxicating Minds by Ciaran Regan, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £14.99, ISBN 0297842870 WE ARE all drug users. Always have been, and probably always will be. We may argue about the legalisation of cannabis and pity heroin addicts, but we're happy enough to grab a cappuccino on the way into work or celebrate with a glass of …

Books & Arts

Never trust a tsetse fly

Books & Arts

Heart of darkness

Books & Arts

A drug in rehab

Books & Arts

Hug the mountain eat the rock

Books & Arts

From eternity to here

Books & Arts

Bestsellers from Cambridge

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

AS GEORGE "Dubya" Bush settles into the White House this weekend he faces some tricky scientific and technological questions. To help him on his way, Feedback is happy to pass on some advice sent to us earlier this month, concerning the National Missile Defense system, also known as "Son of Star Wars". Dubya is well …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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