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This week's magazine

3 February 2007

Issue 2589

New Scientist issue 2589 cover
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Editor's picks

When words fail us

Life

When words fail us

Features
Prehistoric mammals: Big, bad and furry

Life

Prehistoric mammals: Big, bad and furry

Features
A sporting chance of beating the bookies

Life

A sporting chance of beating the bookies

Features
The mind chip

Life

The mind chip

Features

Table of contents

News

Breathing life into artificial organs

Technology

Breathing life into artificial organs

Jeff Borenstein holds up a piece of semi-transparent rubber, about half the size of a credit card. If all goes to plan this unassuming piece of rubber could become the building block for the first 3D artificial organs. Stacks of these bendy, biodegradable flaps are fused together to form structures snaked through with a network …

News

Technology

Virtual voucher masks online users' identity

News

Technology

Lasers spot fake drugs in the packet

News

Life

Are female songbirds evolution's unsung heroines?

News

Life

Toad diet makes snakes bold

News

Earth

What lurks beneath Antarctic ice sheet

News

Technology

Keeping the high-energy dream alive

News

This week 50 years ago

News

Earth

Biofuel wars loom as Bush reveals agribusiness plans

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Technology

Secret compound for better chips

News

Life

Seeking the Excalibur of all algorithms

News

Life

How about a bot for a boss?

News

Earth

When co-operation is the key to survival

News

Life

Raptor's opposable fingers pincered prey

News

Life

Why fat is a fertility issue

News

Health

Narcolepsy hints at drug for insomniacs

News

Space

'Oceans' of water may hide on Mars

News

Health

Sun-seeking immune cells rise up to fight skin cancer

News

Life

When women are in the mood to make a baby

News

Life

Egg screening doubles IVF success

News

Health

Vaccine zaps allergy in record time

News

Soundbites

News

Life

Lighter skin makes for heavier pay packets

News

Earth

California leading the way on curbing emissions

News

Health

Yaws makes a comeback

News

Earth

Global Cool Foundation wants carbon credits

News

Technology

Hints of Higgs in the blogosphere

News

Earth

Self-appointed science censors exposed

News

Space

Hubble's glory dims for now

News

60 Seconds

News

Earth

Eight months on and Lusi still spews mud

News

Opinion

Interview: Knowledge to the people

Technology

Interview: Knowledge to the people

Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has all the hallmarks of a rock star He's inundated with offers, people turn out to see him, and journalists dog his every move: Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has all the hallmarks of a rock star. Except he isn't one. He's the man who founded Wikipedia, the vast online encyclopedia used by millions …

Opinion

Technology

Bell Labs: Over and out

Opinion

Earth

Editorial: Suppressing the science of climate change

Opinion

Features

When words fail us

Life

When words fail us

AFTER a tsunami struck the rim countries of the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004, hundreds of western aid organisations flocked to the region to help. As well as providing practical and financial support, many focused on the disaster's psychological toll. In Sri Lanka, the job of liaising with the foreign counsellors fell to Athula …

Features

Life

Prehistoric mammals: Big, bad and furry

Features

Life

A sporting chance of beating the bookies

Features

Life

The mind chip

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.

Health

The word: Robo-tripping

EVERY trend in recreational drug use generates its own lexicon, and the latest craze among US teens is no exception. Youngsters are turning to over-the-counter cough medicines for a cheap and accessible high. The practice is known to aficionados as robo-tripping or skittling. The main active ingredient in many cough remedies is dextromethorphan, or DXM, …

Regulars

Four examples of a new breed of engineer discuss their work

Careers

Life

The Kiwi's Egg: Charles Darwin and natural selection, by David Quammen

Books & Arts

Physics

The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers, by Alfred Posamentier

Books & Arts

Life

Review: The Last Human, by Esteban Sarmiento et al

Books & Arts

Life

Review: The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt, by John Ray

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

Patent protection for jokes "YOU cannot be serious," tennis ace John McEnroe famously shouted when the umpire ruled one of his shots as "out". Reader John Mulligan suspects that the patent officer felt the same way about Timothy Wace Roberts's patent application for a "Business method protecting jokes". The abstract of his US patent office …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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