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This week's magazine

1 October 2005

Issue 2519

New Scientist issue 2519 cover
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Editor's picks

Slimming for slackers

Life

Slimming for slackers

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: Gorillas, I presume

Features
Vacuum energy: something for nothing?

Physics

Vacuum energy: something for nothing?

Features
Ups and downs of jetpacks

Technology

Ups and downs of jetpacks

Features
The making of T. rex

Earth

The making of T. rex

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

Gizmo

"Wikis", such as the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, provide an easy way to post and maintain information. But vandals can all too easily deface them. So Andrew McNab at the University of Manchester, UK, has developed a form of wiki that uses digital certificates to identify writers. Once a user has been awarded a certificate, it …

News

Technology

Urgent call to end near-misses on runways

News

Technology

Hydrogen generator could power electronic gadgets

News

Technology

Pill-sized camera gets to grips with your gut

News

Technology

The toaster that never burns the bread

News

Technology

Iris scanning on the hoof

News

Technology

Clothing gives sportsmen a kick up the pants

News

Life

Singers should rest their voices for three days after a gig

News

Life

Weed gains power to muster army of insect bodyguards

News

Earth

Sea's eerie glow seen from space

News

Life

How an insect avoids sex with its ex

News

Health

Shot in the arm for tired malaria drug

News

Life

Structure exposes the evolutionary roots of language

News

Health

Genetic link to fragile hips

News

Health

Aspirin stops bugs sticking to contact lenses

News

Earth

Killer lakes in Cameroon may strike again

News

Soundbites

News

Earth

Climate doesn't swing to the rhythm of the sun

News

Earth

Major highways are a hard cross to bears

News

Physics

Cosmic expansion is not to blame for expanding waistlines

News

Health

Is the HIV virus evolving weaknesses?

News

Space

NASA sets its sights on the moon

News

Earth

A tale of two hurricanes

News

Life

Protected fish plundered in 'unintentional' raids

News

Life

Government proposes cull of elephants in Kruger park

News

Physics

Astronomers and engineers clash over leap seconds

News

Health

Worldwide obesity epidemic affects both rich and poor countries

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

First pictures of live giant squid in its natural habitat

News

Life

Parents put 'Intelligent design' in the dock

News

Space

Earth awaits verdict on new definition of 'planet'

News

Life

China may lift ban on selling bones of captive-bred tigers

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.

Penguins are not people

THIS is getting out of hand. Or should I say, out of a flipper-like wing? Penguins are being lifted off their little waddling feet and held aloft as shining examples of how people should lead a decent life. Penguins may be models of upright social behaviour – in a biomechanical sense. But some members of …

Opinion

Editorial: Vision is lacking in Bush's space programme

Opinion

Editorial: Fighting for the right to teach evolution

Opinion

Earth

Take greenhouse polluters to the cleaners

Opinion

Features

Slimming for slackers

Life

Slimming for slackers

IN A nondescript building on the medical campus of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, among the parking lots blazing in the summer sun, lives a group of remarkable mice. Housed in miniature plastic bubbles, the mice lead a sterile existence separated from dirt and microbes by a double airlock that ensures that their food …

Features

Life

Histories: Gorillas, I presume

Features

Physics

Vacuum energy: something for nothing?

Features

Technology

Ups and downs of jetpacks

Features

Earth

The making of T. rex

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.

Physics

The word: Rindler particles

ALICE and Bob are having an argument. They are looking at the same space, but while Alice sees only emptiness Bob sees lots of particles. Alice whips out a thermometer which registers zero temperature, but Bob's registers heat from the motion of the particles. Who is right? They both are. If you've been thinking that …

Regulars

Why we trust

Books & Arts

Mind work

Books & Arts

Hunting Arthur

Books & Arts

They're happy and they know it

Careers

Life

War & Peace & War by Peter Turchin

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

Planetary man THE WORLD still waits, with bated breath, to know whether 2003 UB313, the object larger and farther away than Pluto whose discovery was revealed at the end of July, ends up as a planet or a mere Kuiper belt object, and what it will be called. Meanwhile, several colleagues have alerted us to …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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