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This week's magazine

19 May 2007

Issue 2604

New Scientist issue 2604 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: Plenty more fish in the sea

Features
Coloured concepts help read the mind

Life

Coloured concepts help read the mind

Features
The 7 biggest myths about climate change

Earth

The 7 biggest myths about climate change

Features
On the hunt for cosmic fossils

Space

On the hunt for cosmic fossils

Features

Table of contents

News

Website delay provides bait for 'phishers'

Technology

Website delay provides bait for 'phishers'

The time it takes web pages to respond to spurious access attempts made using your email address or browser can tell fraudsters whether you shop at that site, or even reveal details about your email contents. Timing tricks on the web are not new. In 2000 cryptographers at Princeton University demonstrated that the time taken …

News

Life

Could grazing the scalp be a cure for baldness?

News

Earth

Egg spots provide means of gauging stress levels in birds

News

Life

New software can identify you from your online habits

News

Life

Self-aware robot turns mirror on humankind

News

Technology

'Conservation'-damaged frescoes can be saved

News

Earth

Cellphones could warn of imminent lightning strike

News

Space

European taxpayers to fund new GPS satellite project

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

This week 50 years ago

News

Earth

Female chimps can resort to infanticide

News

Earth

Canada's low-gravity zone is still on the rebound

News

Earth

Dry period in Spain explains Neanderthals' last stand

News

Life

Genes govern the body's ability to stave off AIDS

News

Earth

High levels of biodiversity found in the deep ocean

News

Health

Biologically tailored diets to beat obesity

News

Space

Overweight baby galaxies may solve mass mystery

News

Space

Oldest star by far

News

60 Seconds

News

Health

Bipolar children – is the US overdiagnosing?

News

Health

New gene therapy targets cholesterol

News

Space

Goodbye Milky Way, hello 'Milkomeda'

News

Life

UK tests could miss bird flu in migratory birds

News

Soundbites

News

Life

Plan to 'chip' Alzheimer's patients causes protest

News

Earth

Hurricanes sparked by African thunderstorms

News

Life

Humble fruit fly can make its own decisions

News

Space

'Dark energy' – the constant we can't live without

News

Earth

Survey reveals 216 cancer-causing compounds

News

Life

Sweden celebrates 300th birthday of Linnaeus

News

Health

FDA gets more powers over drug checks

News

Life

Virus disaster for US birds

News

Physics

'Bubble' fusion is in trouble again

News

Earth

Tree trade could save planet from global warming

News

Opinion

String theory: It's not dead yet

Space

String theory: It's not dead yet

A philandering string theorist is caught with another woman by his wife. "But darling," he pleads, "I can explain everything!" I didn't invent the joke; it appeared in the satirical magazine The Onion . The amazing thing is that people got it. The person on the street knows that string theory – the idea that …

Opinion

Life

Editorial: Mania for treatment

Opinion

Technology

Editorial: Marvin the paranoid android may be fiction…

Opinion

Life

Interview: Time enough for countin'

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: Plenty more fish in the sea

Criticise the cost of postage at your peril. So Dutch army surgeon Pieter Bleeker discovered when in 1847 he was banished from Batavia by the government of the Dutch East Indies for just such a faux pas. Bleeker may have had a knack for rubbing the authorities up the wrong way, but luckily he was …

Features

Life

Coloured concepts help read the mind

Features

Earth

The 7 biggest myths about climate change

Features

Space

On the hunt for cosmic fossils

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.

Graduate special: How to shine in a nightmare interview

A FEW years ago, a mysterious billboard appeared on the highway into the US's Silicon Valley. The only thing on the billboard was the text: "{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com." Anyone smart enough to work this number out unlocked the address of a website. There they found another mathematical riddle. Calculate …

Careers

Graduate special: Alternative careers for scientists

Careers

Graduate special: Four quirky jobs for scientists

Careers

50 Things to do before you leave university

Careers

Graduate special: Please exit the building calmly

Careers

Space

The word: The Boötes Void

Regulars

The Poincaré Conjecture by Donal O'Shea

Books & Arts

How to Live Off-Grid by Nick Rosen

Books & Arts

Power struggle

Books & Arts

Environment

Review: Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy L. Cheney and Robert M. Seyfarth

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

Curse of the capitals THE IT department at the firm where Robert Wisniowski works likes to put up notices in capital letters. Maybe they think this attracts attention, or maybe they can't resist the urge to shout. Anyway, a label next to a temperamental printer said: "IF PAPER GETS JAMMED, DO NOT RIP IT OUT …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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