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This week's magazine

26 February 2005

Issue 2488

New Scientist issue 2488 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.

Technology

The new age of sail

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

Beware – shark repellent testing in progress

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

Histories: Death and the outcast

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

Psychedelic medicine: Mind bending, health giving

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

Revealing order in the chaos

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

Invention

HIGH-SPEED INTERFERENCE The craze for Wi-Fi networks could interfere with military radars, says Agere Systems of Allentown, Pennsylvania. The 802.11a specification for Wi-Fi works at 5 gigahertz, which is the band where many defence radars operate. Wi-Fi networks already detect radar and switch frequency to avoid it, but a PC cannot detect radar while it …

News

Technology

The touchy-feely side of telecoms

News

Earth

Making the best of garbage gas

News

Technology

Mirror trick leads electronic-paper chase

News

Space

Room for seven on trip to the heavens

News

Technology

New robots waddle with human efficiency

News

Technology

Anti-theft device shuts down PC monitors

News

Technology

Plastic pimples make better hard discs

News

Life

Grow-your-own breast implants

News

Health

Coffee may reduce liver cancer risk

News

Life

Sterile GM fish reduce risk to wild stocks

News

Earth

Neutrinos to spy on planet's core

News

Life

Good vibrations tell termites to tuck in

News

Life

A rousing chorus gets finches in the mood

News

Earth

Earth's gamma rays more powerful than realised

News

Technology

Synthetic enamel seals cavities painlessly

News

Health

Soccer link to motor neuron disease

News

Earth

Minke population study undermines whalers' claims

News

Earth

Captive chimpanzees' release declared a success

News

Soundbites

News

Space

'Superflare' offers insight into gamma-ray bursts

News

Life

Cultured bone offers novel wedding rings

News

Space

Space shuttle still 'go' for May launch

News

Health

FDA recommends Cox-2 drugs remain available

News

Life

UN fudges decision on human embryo cloning ban

News

Technology

Depleted uranium ammo may be replaced

News

Earth

Tsunami waves exposed remnants of lost city

News

60 Seconds

News

Space

Astronomers claim first 'dark galaxy' find

News

Earth

Hydroelectric power's dirty secret revealed

News

Earth

Iran's dam threatens Iraqi marshes

News

Technology

Gold-standard online security code cracked

News

Earth

Oil plans threaten whales' existence

News

Health

Bird flu in humans may be going undiagnosed

News

Space

Mars: Not dead but very much alive

News

Health

Genetic 'map' shows patterns in human variation

News

Physics

Grazing drop of oil loops the loop

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.

Life

'Terminator' technology keeps GM crops in check

TERMINATOR technology: the name alone makes it sound like the work of a James Bond villain intent on world domination. For critics of multinational biotech corporations, the reality seems hardly less horrifying. Terminator technology is a way of making genetically modified plants produce sterile seeds, forcing farmers to buy fresh seed every year instead of …

Opinion

Editorial: Which scientists can we trust?

Opinion

Humans

Washington diary

Opinion

Interview: Breaking the barriers

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.

Technology

The new age of sail

THE coming of steam sent the world's great sailing fleets into decline. The internal combustion engine finally finished them off. So it would be a strange twist of fate if the age of sail was resurrected by what amounts to a child's toy. For several weeks last summer, a team of German engineers sailed back …

Features

Life

Beware – shark repellent testing in progress

Features

Life

Histories: Death and the outcast

Features

Health

Psychedelic medicine: Mind bending, health giving

Features

Physics

Revealing order in the chaos

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.

Technology

The History of the Laser by Mario Bertolotti

NO criticism intended, but a better title might have been "A History of Physics Leading up to the Invention of the Maser and Laser". Why? Well, for 10 chapters Mario Bertolotti of the University of Rome charts theories of light, explains spectroscopy, black-body radiation, atomic theory and Einstein's work, before he moves on to microwave …

Books & Arts

Bestsellers – Online

Books & Arts

Obsessive Genius by Barbara Goldsmith

Books & Arts

Earth

The Natural History of Southern New Zealand edited by John Darby and others

Books & Arts

Physics

A Different Universe by Robert Laughlin

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

Darwin dub TAKE a professor of microbial genomics whose two passions are Darwin and dub reggae. Allow him to meet up by chance with a Jamaican scientist working at the same university. What do you get? The formation of the Genomic Dub Collective and their first CD, The Origin of Species in Dub . "Mek …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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