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This week's magazine

14 July 2007

Issue 2612

New Scientist issue 2612 cover
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Editor's picks

Histories: On the road in a giant redwood

Earth

Histories: On the road in a giant redwood

Features
Genomics: Junking the junk DNA

Life

Genomics: Junking the junk DNA

Features
The great nanotech gamble

Technology

The great nanotech gamble

Features
The lure of the conspiracy theory

Life

The lure of the conspiracy theory

Features
String theory: The fightback

Physics

String theory: The fightback

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.

Space

This week 50 years ago

Race to place first satellite Even though cooperation, rather than competition, is the keynote of the International Geophysical Year (IGY), scientists would be less than human if they were not speculating which of the artificial Earth satellites – American or Russian – will be aloft first. The Americans have announced that the launching of theirs …

News

Earth

US deployed nuclear weapons in UK despite warning

News

Life

Men talk just as freely as women

News

Life

Hormone spray could banish shyness

News

Earth

Vital ecosystem services threatened by species loss

News

Life

Abortion pill could become daily contraceptive

News

Life

Snake DNA found inside a gerbil

News

Gigantic volcano did not decimate humans

News

Life

Water vapour detected on alien world

News

Earth

Indonesia's forests could go up in smoke

News

Technology

You can't trust gender-bending avatars

News

Technology

Lazy robots look more natural on the move

News

Technology

Don't wear your iPod in a thunderstorm

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Technology

Online video is transforming perceptions of science

News

Technology

Nanotubes strengthen artificial muscles

News

Technology

Nanoparticles make cancer cells magnetic

News

Life

Dog contraceptive signals end to castration

News

Space

Cosmologists spot a 'knot' in space-time

News

Health

Insight: Fear of germs could be misplaced

News

Soundbites

News

Life

Weeding out the bad sperm from the good

News

Health

Soil boosts spread of prion diseases

News

Life

New Yorkers to get quieter night's sleep

News

Earth

The hidden tragedy of Africa's HIV crisis

News

60 Seconds

News

Space

NASA delays launch of DAWN probe

News

Life

Women get the wrong dose of fertility drugs

News

Earth

Amazon dam project gets the go-ahead

News

Space

Public to join search for cosmic 'axis of evil'

News

Life

India's HIV toll lower than predicted

News

Opinion

Comment: Dark energy search threatens astronomy

Space

Comment: Dark energy search threatens astronomy

The pursuit of a deeper truth, a fundamental theory that underlies all others, is a powerful motivator in physics. But it's not the only one. Equally valid are curiosity and awe at the richness of nature – at the way seemingly unrelated processes can produce order, beauty and diversity from chaos. The first motivation is …

Opinion

Technology

Editorial: Governments dithering over nanotech safety

Opinion

Life

Editorial: The junk DNA we can't live without

Opinion

Technology

Interview: Waiting for an Iranian Chernobyl

Opinion

Features

Histories: On the road in a giant redwood

Earth

Histories: On the road in a giant redwood

In 1917 two lumberjacks from the Pacific Lumber Company received a curious request from the backwoods of Humboldt county, California: local resident Charles Kellogg wanted help in hand-sawing a huge chunk cut from a giant sequoia, known locally as the Sierra redwood or simply the Big Tree. Few ordinary customers would ever need a piece …

Features

Life

Genomics: Junking the junk DNA

Features

Technology

The great nanotech gamble

Features

Life

The lure of the conspiracy theory

Features

Physics

String theory: The fightback

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

Review: Sicko, directed by Michael Moore

Rick accidentally saws the tips off two fingers, but can only afford to have one sewn back on. A 9/11 volunteer is denied the care he needs for the lung condition he developed while pulling people from the rubble of the World Trade Center. A man stitches up a gash in his own knee because …

Books & Arts

Health

The word: Doctor fish

Regulars

Review: The New Time Travelers by David Toomey

Books & Arts

Health

Review: Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem

Books & Arts

Technology

Review: The cult of the amateur by Andrew Keen

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

Science of what Star Wars? "SCIENCE of Star Wars" is an intriguing title for an exhibition, but Feedback is a bit nervous of getting too close to some of the "real-world science" displays, especially the "nuclear pulse engine" and more so the "matter/antimatter powered spacecraft". But if you want to take the risk, you can …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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