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This week's magazine

15 December 2007

Issue 2634

New Scientist issue 2634 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: Jane Rider – the Springfield somnambulist

Features
The Pharaoh's pharmacists

Life

The Pharaoh's pharmacists

Features
Procrastination: The thief of time

Procrastination: The thief of time

Features
Focus feature: Keeping your mind on the job

Life

Focus feature: Keeping your mind on the job

Features
Sky maps: Leaving no star unturned

Space

Sky maps: Leaving no star unturned

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

Concerns raised over Venter patents

WILL genomics pioneer Craig Venter be the next Bill Gates, enjoying a Microsoft-like grip on a future industry based on synthetic forms of life? That was the claim of an advocacy group concerned about the social implications of technologies earlier this year, after Venter's institute applied for a patent on a synthetic "minimal genome" ( …

News

Space

Space shuttle's fuel sensor curse strikes again

News

Earth

Supersonic steam produces 'green' beer

News

Technology

Cellphone takes the confusion out of foreign menus

News

Technology

Wikipedia founder's Google rival to launch

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Technology

Indoor 'sat-nav' could save firefighters

News

Earth

Oil spills go a long way under ice

News

This week 50 years ago

News

Life

Brain's 'gatekeeper' filters out distractions

News

Technology

Hackers have poor nations' PCs in their sights

News

Health

Reprogrammed adult cells reverse sickle-cell disease

News

Health

Obesity increases susceptibility to gum disease

News

Space

Milky Way's halo reveals twin personalities

News

Life

Is the seat of the soul in the brain?

News

Physics

Why a soggy baseball flies further

News

Space

Saturn's 'flying saucer' moons built of ring material

News

Health

'Painkiller' gene turned off in mice

News

Life

Keep-'em-keen gene stops insects starting a family

News

Space

Magnetic ripples explain Sun's hot corona

News

Life

Modern times causing human evolution to accelerate

News

Earth

Is the biofuel dream over?

News

Health

Off-label drugs changes 'a big mistake'

News

Earth

Water may hide harmful chemical cocktail

News

Health

Extreme TB patient slips through aircraft surveillance net

News

Space

Get ready for traffic jams on the Moon

News

60 Seconds

News

Technology

Nuclear plant shutdown halts medical tests

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.

Earth

Editorial : Clearing up the confusion over biofuels

GIVEN plans to expand production of biofuels, you would think that scientists were broadly agreed that switching from fossil fuels will help slow global warming. If only things were that simple. In reality, debate is raging over what will happen to greenhouse gas emissions when more biofuel crops are grown. Accounting for the total emissions …

Opinion

Life

Editorial: Why Africa must be able to trade

Opinion

Commentary: A science-literate president, please

Opinion

Life

Japan's Yamanaka wins Nobel for stem cell breakthrough

Opinion

Life

Comment: Rewarding China's fossil hunters

Opinion

Life

Nobel-winning stem cell pioneer

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: Jane Rider – the Springfield somnambulist

In July 1833, Jane Rider, servant to the Stebbins family of Springfield, Massachusetts, rose from her bed, dressed and made her way downstairs. Quickly and efficiently, she set the table for breakfast, arranging the crocks, cutlery and condiments with the utmost precision. She negotiated a narrow doorway with a large tray laden with coffee cups …

Features

Life

The Pharaoh's pharmacists

Features

Procrastination: The thief of time

Features

Life

Focus feature: Keeping your mind on the job

Features

Space

Sky maps: Leaving no star unturned

Features

More

Illustrated books: <i>Textiles Today</i> by Chloë Colchester

Illustrated books: Textiles Today by Chloë Colchester

ANTHROPOLOGIST Chloë Colchester's survey of the world's textiles is about so much more than clothes. She reviews the latest technology in woven materials, such as embroidered surgical implants and vests that monitor the wearer's health, and looks ahead to fabric robots and invisibility suits. There's also a strong emphasis on the role of textiles in …

Books & Arts

Illustrated books: Albert Einstein: The persistent illusion of transience by Ze'ev Rosenkranz and Barbara Wolff

Books & Arts

Illustrated books: Evolution (in Action) by Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu and Patrick Gries

Books & Arts

Review: The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt

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

Life without carbon? ONCE again, boring old conventional science has been scooped by a "Spiritual Teacher and Healer, Naturopath and Telepathic Channel". Moikeha Asar K brings us – at www.theliquidcrystals.com/faq.php – important news about the nature of life itself: "For many years carbon was said to be the only living atom on the Earth, but …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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