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This week's magazine

19 February 2005

Issue 2487

New Scientist issue 2487 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.

Life

India special: Sight for sore eyes

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.

Health

India special: Medicines of the future

Features
India special: The silicon subcontinent

Technology

India special: The silicon subcontinent

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.

Technology

India special: Millions get mobiles

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

India special: Young IT crowd lives it up

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.

Health

India special: Vaccines for pennies

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.

India special: Making science pay

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.

Space

India special: Radio telescope offers dishes to savour

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.

Technology

India special: Welcome to the global village

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.

India special: Bold plans for the nuclear future

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.

Physics

The mystery of disappearing gravity

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.

India special: The returning scientist

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.

Technology

India special: The IT pioneer

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.

India special

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.

India special: The next knowledge superpower

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.

Earth

India special: Embracing GM crops

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.

Space

India special: Space programme presses ahead

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.

Technology

Satellite train trial gives the all-clear

REPLACING railway signalling equipment with satellite navigation systems could slash the cost of maintaining the network and provide a financial lifeline for lightly used rural railways by cutting their costs. A nine-month trial using a train on the UK rail network, reported at a conference in London last week, showed that the satnav technology could …

News

Technology

Invention

News

Technology

Wi-Fi is the key to internet telephony

News

Technology

New chip puts Pentium's reign in jeopardy

News

Technology

Nanotubes get to grips with the 'burger bug'

News

Technology

Swiping cellphones really does pay

News

Technology

Silicon-based lasers to boost photonic circuits

News

Health

Hearing restored in deaf guinea pigs

News

Life

Middle ear so useful it evolved twice

News

Health

Young blood restores body's healing powers

News

Health

Mosquito eaters help beat dengue fever

News

Life

Math skills evolved independent of language

News

Life

Modern humans are older than realised

News

Health

St John's wort as good as antidepressant

News

Earth

Forests return but gene pool shrinks

News

Health

Why vaccination by potato got chopped

News

Space

Titan's wind-blown message reaches Earth

News

Earth

Slumbering Vesuvius is in a slump

News

Privatising nuclear clean-up risks public safety

News

Health

Children should be targeted with flu vaccinations

News

Life

Can 'feather foot' knock oldest bird off its perch?

News

Health

Sperm damage claims over phone radiation

News

Space

Galactic lightning may have formed Earth

News

Earth

Interstellar gas cloud linked to 'Snowball Earth'

News

Soundbites

News

Health

Stockpile bird flu vaccine now

News

Life

IVF embryos may be starved of a vital ingredient

News

Space

A whiff of life on the Red Planet

News

60 Seconds

News

Technology

North Korea boasts of nuclear arms

News

Health

Drug resistant 'super HIV' creates a scare

News

Earth

The world is cooling, says NASA

News

US scientists feel political heat

News

Space

Ariane 5 Heavy rocket noses ahead

News

Physics

Francis Crick archive made available online

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.

Cyber-antiquities

NEXT week, the world's first auction of rare manuscripts and artefacts charting the origin of the internet will take place at Christie's in New York. That it should have taken more than 30 years after the development of the internet for this to happen speaks volumes about the collectors who specialise in the history of …

Opinion

Health

Editorial: Polio is down but not out

Opinion

Health

Editorial: The temptation of edible vaccines

Opinion

Humans

Westminster diary

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.

Life

India special: Sight for sore eyes

PICTURE the scene: a distraught parent rushes to hospital clutching a screaming toddler. While the mother's back was turned, the child had picked up a household cleaning product and managed to squirt some in her eye. Doctors find that the cornea, the clear surface layer over the centre of the eye, has been severely damaged. …

Features

India special: Bold plans for the nuclear future

Features

Earth

India special: Embracing GM crops

Features

India special: The next knowledge superpower

Features

India special

Features

Technology

India special: The IT pioneer

Features

India special: The returning scientist

Features

Physics

The mystery of disappearing gravity

Features

Technology

India special: Welcome to the global village

Features

Health

India special: Medicines of the future

Features

Space

India special: Radio telescope offers dishes to savour

Features

India special: Making science pay

Features

Health

India special: Vaccines for pennies

Features

Life

India special: Young IT crowd lives it up

Features

Technology

India special: Millions get mobiles

Features

Technology

India special: The silicon subcontinent

Features

Space

India special: Space programme presses ahead

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.

Going the distance

I've done well academically so far. Can I expect to sail through a PhD? Not necessarily. A doctorate is a whole new ball game demanding different skills from those that have brought you success in your education so far. For most of an undergraduate or master's degree you will have attended lectures and done coursework …

Careers

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

Death Valley, Norfolk THE county of Norfolk in eastern England is noted, in Noel Coward's words, for being "very flat". But could it really be the hottest place in the world too? When James Brown tried out Microsoft's new search engine, MSN Search, earlier this month, he was intrigued by the claim that by using …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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