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This week's magazine

5 May 2007

Issue 2602

New Scientist issue 2602 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: Banking on genius

Features
Cold fusion – hot news again?

Technology

Cold fusion – hot news again?

Features
Top 10 ways to make better decisions

Life

Top 10 ways to make better decisions

Features
Looking for the echoes of a supernova

Space

Looking for the echoes of a supernova

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.

Life

Mini DNA replicator could benefit world's poor

A pocket-sized $10 device that can "amplify" DNA is promising a cheap, portable method for diagnosing HIV and TB. Like existing lab equipment, the device uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a sample, but is does this in as little as 20 minutes, rather than the hour or two usually needed. "I hope …

News

Earth

'Flying weather stations' could improve forecasts

News

Earth

Nanoparticles 'safe for soil bugs'

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Technology

Web browsers are new frontline in internet war

News

Technology

Self-powered displays keep gadgets alive

News

Life

Female ducks fight back against 'raping' males

News

Life

Women would endure most pain for a best friend

News

Health

Green tea can be harmful in large quantities

News

Earth

Did the North Atlantic's 'birth' warm the world?

News

Life

Older people are better losers

News

Life

Hive beetle disarms bees with their own pheromones

News

Life

Ducks' waterproofing wax may have a hidden cost

News

This week 50 years ago

News

Earth

Monsoon rain dampens Himalayan tremors

News

Life

Lost memories could be restored by 'rewiring' brain

News

Life

Problem pets can now pop Prozac

News

Earth

High cost of capturing solar energy is diminishing

News

Life

Fetus 'bodyguard' cells may help prevent miscarriages

News

Space

European planet hunters on brink of Earth-sized prize

News

Soundbites

News

Health

Canada probes TB 'genocide' in church-run schools

News

Health

Appendix-removal via the mouth leaves no scar

News

Life

Melamine suspected of killing hundreds of US pets

News

Earth

Plants 'not to blame' for potent greenhouse gases

News

Earth

Native American fishing practices not 'unethical'

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

Bonobos and chimps 'speak' with gestures

News

Health

US to outlaw corporate prejudice based on genes

News

Earth

New hope for Galapagos' 'Lonesome George'

News

Health

Amateur boxers suffer brain damage too

News

Earth

What caused Britain's 1607 tsunami?

News

Health

Europe bans most severe animal tests for cosmetics

News

Life

Stephen Hawking publicises space travel with zero-g flight

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

Africa's traditional healers can help in AIDS crisis

IN the fight against AIDS and HIV infection in Africa, traditional herbal medicines are hardly flavour of the month with western healthcare workers. This is understandable, given the announcement earlier this year by Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh that he had learned of a cure for AIDS from his ancestors in a dream and has since …

Opinion

Health

Will scar-free surgery live up to the hype?

Opinion

Earth

Methane research standoff: do plants produce gas?

Opinion

Technology

Interview: The human crash test dummy

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: Banking on genius

Each morning before school Alfred Smee fed his pigeons, talked to his rabbits and then ate breakfast – accompanied by a tame magpie with a taste for toast. When both had finished, the bird hopped off to tease the dog and the boy went to school. Nothing too extraordinary – except that Alfred and his …

Features

Technology

Cold fusion – hot news again?

Features

Life

Top 10 ways to make better decisions

Features

Space

Looking for the echoes of a supernova

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.

Biotech and pharma flourish in Scandinavia's winter sun

SCANDINAVIA'S multimillion-euro biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry has its roots in Sweden and Denmark, where regional leaders such as Novo Nordisk started life in the 1920s as two separate companies selling then revolutionary insulin. The numbers reflect that maturity. In a recent OECD survey of patent statistics, Denmark led the world in the number of biotech …

Careers

Review: A Crowd of One: The Future of Individual Identity by John Henry Clippinger

Books & Arts

Space

Review: The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel's astronomical ambition by Claire Brock

Books & Arts

Incredible journeys

Books & Arts

Why The Sky is Blue by Götz Hoeppe

Books & Arts

Earth

The word: Nullarbor

Regulars

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

Swimming from America PROBABLY this is database humour, if that isn't an oxymoron. Dominic Mercier was the first of many to inform us that if you go to http://maps.google.com and seek directions to London (UK) from anywhere in North America, you are instructed first to go to the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts. The …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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