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This week's magazine

6 January 2007

Issue 2585

New Scientist issue 2585 cover
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Editor's picks

Geckos: Under the colour of darkness

Life

Geckos: Under the colour of darkness

Features
Extreme childbirth: Freebirthing

Life

Extreme childbirth: Freebirthing

Features
Better by design: battling the throwaway culture

Earth

Better by design: battling the throwaway culture

Features
Interstellar space, and step on it!

Space

Interstellar space, and step on it!

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

A vibrating vest for soldiers could put an end to cryptic battlefield hand signals. The spandex vest, developed by the US army, has 16 vibrating motors on its back to indicate commands such as "turn left", "speed up" or "slow down". In tests, volunteers distinguished between 15 different signals used to direct them around an …

News

Life

Undercover robots lift lid on animal body language

News

Technology

'Stowaway' that stops nuke smugglers

News

Earth

Satnav gives directions for a greener route

News

Health

Cheap drug dodges big pharma patents

News

Space

Maybe evolution didn't tune our universe after all

News

Earth

Peak progress hampered by ozone from katabatic wind

News

Health

Trouble ahead in TB's birthplace?

News

Health

Intestinal worms may not be totally bad news

News

Health

Tipplers tend to be the topplers

News

Life

Katydids hit the highest notes

News

Life

'Brainy' chickpeas conquered the world

News

Earth

Arctic melt soaks up carbon dioxide

News

Earth

SUV owners need a hand to drive better

News

Technology

Street advertising gets local-stock-savvy

News

Earth

What to do with a TV when it dies

News

Technology

Web firms tackle China effect

News

Physics

Could 'mirror matter' give us limitless energy?

News

Health

Insight: Out of the trans-fat frying pan…

News

This week 50 years ago

News

Life

The DNA so dangerous it does not exist

News

Science may gain in new Congress

News

Celebrities should watch what they say

News

Health

'Test all US immigrants for TB'

News

Earth

Ice shelf larger than Manhattan drifts off

News

Health

Cancer warning over stem cell therapies

News

Health

Cloned meat is safe to eat, says FDA

News

Technology

Earthquake shakes the internet

News

Earth

Bag a trophy, save a species

News

60 Seconds

News

Space

Search for Earth-like worlds hots up

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

Comment: Prescribed opinions

IN MID-October, an email landed in my inbox that set me thinking. It was an invitation to a meeting organised by the UK Medical Journalists' Association (MJA), described as "an evening workshop with arthritis experts". Paid for by an "educational grant" from Merck Sharp & Dohme, the UK arm of the drugs giant Merck, it …

Opinion

Editorial: Reasons to be cheerful

Opinion

Earth

Editorial: Kill and let live

Opinion

Technology

Interview: The blue revolutionary

Opinion

The changing relationship between science and people

Opinion

Features

Geckos: Under the colour of darkness

Life

Geckos: Under the colour of darkness

THERE'S a German expression which translates as "all cats are grey at night". It's certainly true for humans. As night falls, the colour-detecting cone cells in our eyes switch off, the rod cells take over and the world turns to fuzzy black and white – until we go indoors and switch on the lights. It …

Features

Life

Extreme childbirth: Freebirthing

Features

Earth

Better by design: battling the throwaway culture

Features

Space

Interstellar space, and step on it!

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.

Life

The word: Elvis taxon

GETTING to grips with the fossil record can be a headache. When it comes to understanding how the various species fit in, palaeontologists need patience, creativity – and a touch of humour. Take the seemingly clear-cut case of extinction which, it turns out, isn't always as clear-cut as you might think. Animals that have apparently …

Regulars

Health

DNA, by Frank H Stephenson

Books & Arts

Earth

Richter's Scale, by Susan Elizabeth Hough

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.

Space

Feedback: 'Alien texts' competition winners

Feedback New Year Competition results This week we publish the winning entries in our New Year Competition. The challenge was to compose a text message of no more than 160 characters, sent home by an alien who has just arrived on our planet. The 300-plus entries we received have been entertaining and thought-provoking. It has …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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