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This week's magazine

4 November 2006

Issue 2576

New Scientist issue 2576 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

Histories: The human centrifuge

Features
Watching God play dice: The Large Hadron Collider

Technology

Watching God play dice: The Large Hadron Collider

Features
Arson evidence – shot down in flames

Technology

Arson evidence – shot down in flames

Features
Tressed to impress: Our love affair with hair

Life

Tressed to impress: Our love affair with hair

Features
The 10 roads to Fatsville

Life

The 10 roads to Fatsville

Features

Table of contents

News

Could surgeons use headlights in place of lasers?

Technology

Could surgeons use headlights in place of lasers?

It was a real light-bulb moment for Jeffrey Gordon and his team. They had developed a device that would use sunlight rather than expensive lasers to perform surgical procedures such as zapping tumours, and hoped it would make a useful low-cost tool for the developing world. Unfortunately, while the economics were right, the instrument turned …

News

Technology

A fly's-eye view for spies in the sky

News

Technology

Brighter future for Roman frescoes

News

Technology

Script worries over internet domain names

News

Technology

Sniffing out an aircraft fire

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Space

Going to Mars? Don't forget to pack gravity

News

Life

Lessons in the art of species survival

News

This week 23 years ago

News

Health

Bird flu outruns the vaccines

News

Earth

Climate change special: State of denial

News

Life

Why the Loch Ness Monster is no plesiosaur

News

Life

Sperm blocker beats side effects

News

Life

Humans left chimps behind in 'evolution's playground'

News

Technology

The quantum world is about to get bigger

News

Health

Fresh ammo to kill rogue prions

News

Life

Elephants recognise their mirror image

News

Technology

Ice, steam, liquid, and now a new type of water

News

Life

Egg police crack down on broody bees

News

Earth

No new ice age for western Europe

News

Life

Mate like crazy and let the sperm fight it out

News

Soundbites

News

Health

SIDS deaths linked to brain defect

News

Life

IVF strike rate could more than double

News

Space

Mystery of universe's missing helium may be solved

News

60 Seconds

News

Earth

Low-carbon economy urgently called for

News

Life

Prominent biology paper 'may not be reliable'

News

Life

Global sex survey considers marriage and god

News

Health

Bad news for the poor in affluent areas

News

Life

White House again accused of distorting science

News

Health

Legal kerfuffle over smallpox research

News

Space

3D space-weather forecasts on the horizon

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.

Health

Stem cell research: Dangerous territory?

CALIFORNIA's Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, better known as Proposition 71, allows the state to bypass federal restrictions and fund stem cell research to the tune of $3 to 6 billion. Since it passed into law two years ago, other states have rushed to allocate funds and space to stem cell research, hoping for …

Opinion

Earth

Climate change: We have been warned

Opinion

Interview: Tony Blair on science

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

Histories: The human centrifuge

"His countenance attached to saturnine blackness, the eyes, suffused with bile, were immovably fixed on the ground, the limbs seemed deprived of their locomotive powers, the action of the lungs, and the circulation retarded, the tongue parched and silent, and the whole man resembled an automaton." In Dr Cox's opinion, his patient was in the …

Features

Technology

Watching God play dice: The Large Hadron Collider

Features

Technology

Arson evidence – shot down in flames

Features

Life

Tressed to impress: Our love affair with hair

Features

Life

The 10 roads to Fatsville

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

Review: The Star Wars Enigma, by Nigel Hey

FOR many, it defined the presidency of Ronald Reagan. A grandiose plan to build a defensive shield against nuclear missiles, it was called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) by Reagan and his allies. The label that stuck, however, was "Star Wars," coined by arch-enemy Senator Ted Kennedy the day after Reagan announced the scheme in …

Books & Arts

Health

Review: Francis Crick: Discoverer of the genetic code, by Matt Ridley

Books & Arts

Earth

The word: Mud volcano

Regulars

Life

Dawn of the Dinosaurs, by Nicholas Fraser

Books & Arts

Junk Science, by Dan Agin

Books & Arts

Biotechnology looks to the future

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

Units of experience THE hi-fi industry has always attracted small companies that sell magic-wand cures for poor sound quality, such as felt-tip marker pens that allegedly improve CD sound by absorbing stray laser light. The companies seldom offer any scientific proof of performance, preferring to imply that anyone who cannot hear an improvement can't be …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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